The Howling Wind
by Mitsumaru
Summary: And thus the spirit is shattered...and two are born. NaruHina
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Along the way from childhood to adulthood, the path shifts to ways that are not the most pleasant, but sometimes it is those paths that are the best way to the end. This is a story of one boy's journey and how life twists the path he travels upon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That much is certain.

(----------)

**The Howling Wind**

**Chapter 1: Twilighted Soul**

_In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better._

-Ellen DeGeneres

(----------)

It was a demon fox; a nine-tailed demon fox.

It was a large, red fox with the power to topple mountains and create tsunamis with a single flick of one of its tails. The destruction done that one day by this one fox is unimaginable. The damage and the death toll put all the wars of the past to shame.

In other words, he was wrecking the place, and he was meeting with little to no resistance.

Well, except the numerous ninjas who were giving it their all to attack the fox and attempt to bring it to its knees. Unfortunately, however, these ninjas weren't doing very much to help the state of the village. In fact, these ninjas were being blown away like oversized dust particles in the wind. One second, a ninja could be launching attacks towards the monstrosity and the next second showed the very same ninja flying through the air along with about 100 others.

Their techniques were being deflected like small pebbles against a mountainside.

Now, there was one thing that these ninjas were doing. And, they were doing it successfully. Unfortunately, it was costing lives by the second to perform. They were distractions. They needed to keep the fox at bay as the final attack is prepared. It was one heck of a gamble. There was a 50-50 chance of this working, and the ninjas hoped that the last shot will finish this.

Because they didn't have a second chance. Whatever they were holding back the Kyûbi for; they knew that the attack had to finish it. If not…

Let's not think about that, okay?

The ninjas heard a loud rumble come from behind them. Some turned quickly just in case it turned out to be another enemy, striking them while they were severely weakened. Though the thought was preposterous due to the fact that no other country would dare attack them knowing the Kyûbi could turn to destroy them as easily as the Konoha ninja. The next thing they saw filled a majority of the ninjas with a relieving breath.

It was merely a flash of red and a gleam from a titan dagger. Their savior had come.

(----------)

The Kyûbi had been defeated. The ninjas that died were buried with great honor. The Will of Flame that was expected from the village of Konoha was spared. The people of the village of Konoha, the leaves themselves, were allowed to live another day.

At the price of one of its brightest embers.

In this village, the leader is called the Hokage. To date, there have been 4 to grace the village with a benevolent rule. The First was known as the seed-spreader of the village; using his own sweat and blood to create a monstrous forest from a wasteland between two other forestlands. The Second was known as the water that fed the village's spirits. This was literal in the sense that the Second was the person who was able to use the waters to feed the trees that were created by the First. After a few years, the ecosystem had become rooted and the forest began to prosper. The Third was known as the Professor; the knowledgeable man who each and every one of the techniques in the village, forbidden or not, provided they were not the property of any other noble family of the village. His rule was a rule based in justice and hope; the structure of the village.

And then, there was the Fourth.

While relatively short compared to the rules of the other three, this particular one based his actions off of the abundant cheer he possessed. Being the leader, his cheer spread to the masses very quickly. He was a legendary man that was known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, as well as the Yondaime Hokage. He was the very sunlight of the village; the leader who illuminated the village and allowed to prosper through the light he provided. Unfortunately, the fox that attacked stole away the sunlight of the village. And while the structure held steady in the Sunlight's absence, the Sunlight left a gift to the village. While this would have otherwise been a good thing, it wasn't.

It was a new Sunlight. A small child with eyes of blue and locks of gold, the boy was an excellent gift to the masses. It was the sign of new hope; new light.

But, though this new sun was as yellow as the one that passed before, all the leaves saw was a red sun, dangling in the sky, posing a threat to their very existence.

A new, yellow sun; its hue stained by the boiling blood of many.

(----------)

It all started on a day many years after. Usually, days do not have any significant purpose; passing onward with the sands of time as the fires of life are created and destroyed. But, to this day, many people in the village feel that it is significant enough to be excited about. But, unfortunately for them, it wasn't for a positive reason.

But, this story is focusing on a small boy in particular at the moment. This boy has a great amount of pride and arrogance in his ability as a ninja. But to others, the bragging is like a dog with only a bark and not a bite. Ineffective.

His appearance was somewhat…unique. He wore an eye-searing orange jacket with blue highlights speckled around his limbs. His pants were of the same burning color, a ninja's small weapons pouch tied around his right leg. Upon his forehead was a set of goggles; which he personally found useful due to the hobby he pursued. Upon his cheeks, there were a set of whisker-like markings. He had eyes of sapphire blue and hair of the brightest blonde.

However, the stereotype that states that all blondes are stupid did not truly apply to him. If a person were to look closely at his behavior, anyone would notice the advanced ability that he carried. His name: Uzumaki Naruto.

And, as his name implies, he creates chaos wherever he goes.

As it stands right now, Naruto is currently running through the tiled rooftops of Konoha, jumping the gaps with ease, carrying several small, open buckets of paint. He was laughing loudly as he ran, peering back to the "masterpiece" that he created. He began to zigzag through the rooftop roadway as he noticed three ninjas behind him, beginning to give chase. Immediately, they began to create as much of a ruckus as Naruto did as they called after him.

"Naruto, come back here!" they exclaimed, following the quick-footed Naruto through the rooftops. Barely being able to keep up, they continued to roar after him, attempting to apprehend him for what he had done.

What had he done, you ask? He sprayed graffiti upon the rock-face monument that represented the grandeur of the leaders past and present. It was a monument that depicted the faces of the Hokage and showed the majesty and magnitude of the Hokage influence upon the people of Konoha.

And it was covered in latex paint. The faces now depicted the faces after their owners have contracted a nosebleed. By the looks of it, the Hokage were all punched in the nose, as they were all also "crying" lines of blue paint. All the Hokage also had random drawings upon them. The First had a single spiral upon his right cheek; the Second had a small picture which roughly looked like a pile of dog poop on his left cheek and appeared to be making a raspberry due to the fact that his tongue was exposed; the Third had small lines coming out of his eyes, making him appear surprisingly more accurate when compared to the genuine, live, older article, if it wasn't for the fact that there were random drawings of spirals and squiggles upon the rest of his face; and the Fourth had a great amount of paint on his cheeks, both bearing a spiral and random drawings of lines and squiggles that formed nothing in particular.

Needless to say, the ninja population was greatly annoyed by the blonde's antics.

And he was laughing all the way home until a certain chûnin teacher came to capture him. When he did, the people in the immediate area heard a distinct voice.

"What the hell are you doing outside of class, Naruto?!?!"

(----------)

The day began to go downhill from that point, Naruto having to demonstrate his abilities…vividly and the teacher subsequently yelling at the boy for inventing a "stupid skill".

Simply put, it made the user take on the appearance of a woman whose attire cannot even be called "scantily clad". Quite bluntly, whenever the technique was used, a vision of a nude woman would take on the position of the user. The inventor of the technique thought it was genius. After all, the technique has the power to topple a vast majority of the male populace depending on the method of usage. Its name: the Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique). A hilarious reaction was seen in the classroom that day as the teacher flew across the room with a nosebleed. The teacher then proceeded to reprimand the blonde boy for "making up stupid skills" and using the time used to make stupid skills to "study for the graduation test tomorrow, which you have failed three times already, might I add?"

The little boy was then subjected to another punishment; something that he just about expected out of the person who caught him. The catcher's name as well as the mane of the teacher who obtained a complementary flight across the room via the Ero-Express that was Naruto's technique: Umino Iruka. After getting a loud sermon-like scolding after class was back in session, Naruto was given the task of erasing his "piece of art".

"And you're not going home until every last drop of paint is gone!" Iruka yelled from the top of the rock face; looking down upon the orange boy that stood upon a small plank of wood; cleaning off the paint with a small rag and a bucket of water.

"Yeah, whatever," the boy said with his normal arrogant air and with a small, almost undetectable tinge of sorrow; a tinge that was very much unlike him, "It's not like I have anything better to do at home."

Iruka looked down at Naruto and pursed his lips slightly, thinking. Getting a small idea, of how to make the kid feel better, he called out to the boy.

"Hey, Naruto," Iruka said; his voice carrying more compassion than anger. Naruto looked up. He didn't speak; he just looked up. "If you finish cleaning this up before nightfall, I'll treat you to some ramen, okay?"

Naruto's face widened in a grin as Naruto began to rub furiously against the stone.

"YOU GOT IT!" he yelled.

(----------)

One hour and three rags later, Naruto and Iruka were sitting at a small, quaint ramen shop. This particular shop happened to be Naruto's favorite. Ichiraku ramen was "the best ramen in the whole, wide world" as described by Naruto at the age of 9. And, since then, his attitude about the place had not changed. Not only is the ramen quality exceptionally high, the shop was big enough to be easy to spot, yet not too big that too many people would eat there very often. The place thrived due to a steady flow of regular customers and a great deal of recommendations from said regulars to other people of the village.

Naruto was one such regular. In fact, Naruto was there so often, the owners often prepared a bowl just for the boy; extra large since he eats so much in one sitting. Yes, usually, Naruto only had a couple of bowls so that Naruto could pay for it, but when he was treated, the escort made sure they had one heck of a wallet to accommodate for the little boy with the surprisingly huge appetite for the noodle dish. Whenever Naruto visited the shop, whether or not he came in for a meal, things got loud and interesting, just like Naruto was on a daily basis.

"Seconds, please!" Naruto suddenly yelled, making the owner laugh as he clicked his stopwatch to a halt.

"Oh, so close! Missed your last record by 23 seconds!" the middle-aged man yelled as his daughter giggled at the stove, making another batch for their most reliable customer.

"23 seconds, huh?" Naruto asked no one in particular, making a slight, contemplative gesture, "I can beat that!" he yelled as another bowl was placed in front of him.

Iruka chuckled as he watched Naruto cheerfully eating his favorite food, violently pushing aside the urge to make Naruto atop for the sake of his wallet.

About an hour passed, and the laughing died down as a couple customers sat down to dinner in the ramen stand. Naruto, not nearly full yet, did another thing that was severely unlike him. He put down his chopsticks for a moment and removed the goggles from his forehead. Wherever Naruto obtained the goggles, Naruto was not known for taking them off – ever. At this time, the air around the duo of Iruka and Naruto had died down from cheerful to a regularly comfortable silence as Naruto slurped his noodles. Iruka chose this time to confront Naruto about earlier.

"Hey, Naruto," Iruka called as he called for another bowl. Naruto faced Iruka in mid-slurp and cast an acknowledging look. "Why were you doing that to the monument? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"

Swallowing his noodles, Naruto shrugged and answered, "Of course I do! Basically, the people who get the Hokage name are the strongest in the village, right? Among them is the Fourth Hokage, the one who saved the village from a demon fox, right?"

Iruka looked at him strangely. If he knew why the Hokage were to be respected, why did he deface their engraved memory? "Then, why did-?" he started to say as Naruto cut him off.

"Because, I'm going to be Hokage one day. And, when I do, I'm going to surpass them all! Even the Fourth!"

Internally smiling, Iruka moved to continue eating. After today's chase and the great loss of blood from earlier, he was just getting his energy back. It was at this point when Iruka noticed the irregularity that was Naruto's bare forehead.

Looking at Naruto strangely mid-slurp, Iruka cast Naruto a questioning gaze as Naruto faced Iruka. Swallowing his mouthful of noodles, Iruka listened as Naruto spoke.

"Iruka-sensei, I have a favor to ask you."

Looking curiously, Iruka only responded in kind. "What, you want more ramen?" he said jokingly.

Shaking his head, Naruto responded, "No, no, I want to ask you something."

Filled with curiosity, Iruka only pulled an inquisitive look.

Eyes sparkling with excitement, Naruto spoke with a tone that matched, "Can I wear your headband for a moment? I promise I'll give it back! It'll only be a second! _Please?!!!_"

Softly rolling his eyes, Iruka chuckled towards his craziest student.

"Sorry, Naruto; you'll get your chance to get one of these tomorrow. The headband is a sign that the wearer has become an adult."

"Stingy!!!" Naruto yelled.

Iruka only chuckled as he said, "So, that's why you took off your goggles."

Visually sulking slightly, Naruto quickly held up his bowl. The following exchange was heard soon after.

"Another bowl!"

"What?! You've already had _25_ today!"

"Well, at least one record is going to be broken today, isn't it, Naruto?"

(----------)

The next day, the air of the school was filled with tension and excitement. The students of the academy have been waiting years for this chance; some with great excitement; some with great dread.

Naruto, among the students in the class, was one of the students who were filled with excitement. While he was just like the others in the essence of the feeling, he was magnifying this feeling to new levels. Without an outlet for this excitement and the fact that the administration had called for free time before being called for the demonstration part of the exam (there was a written exam, which Naruto grumbled about angrily due to the fact that he didn't know some of the answers) made this time period very annoying for the students in the room, as well as the teachers that were standing watch.

After a well-placed "SHUT UP, NARUTO!!!!" that roared through the building, Naruto was forced to settle down via the hand of a certain teacher.

Eventually, it was Naruto's turn to present. A sigh of relief washed over the people left in the room (which wasn't much since Naruto's last name was late in the alphabet) as Naruto jogged into the examination room. Iruka was sitting at a table with a clipboard in front of him; a stack of headbands at his side, ready to give to the ninjas if they passed the test. Also at the table, there was another teacher; a teacher that Naruto identified as Mizuki.

Iruka scribbled something onto the clipboard and looked up at Naruto.

"Please perform the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)," Iruka stated with an official air. After all, this was a test to elevate the takers to adulthood if they passed.

Naruto gulped. _"Damn it," _Naruto thought, _"Of all the techniques to choose, why the hell did they have to choose the one I'm the WORST at?!"_

Taking a deep breath, Naruto prepared to execute the technique. Shutting his eyes tightly, he focused his energy to the places he thought he needed it and began to execute the technique. From the outside, tendrils of energy, called chakra, could be seen circling his body.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called, releasing the pent-up energy into the environment around him, hoping that he got the correct result. Naruto opened his eyes as a large cloud of smoke appeared; a sign of the technique taking place. He looked to his sides; the target of his eyes being the clone that should have come into existence by the execution of the technique. As the smoke cleared, Naruto nervously looked about for his achievement; if he had any. Luckily, to his right, there was one clone in the form of his body.

Unfortunately, it was sprawled upon the ground; looking pale and sickly.

Naruto cringed at the sight of his "creation". Iruka held a look of exasperation.

Naruto was soon bodily thrown by Iruka's subsequent yell.

"YOU FAIL!!!!"

Naruto picked himself off the floor as the other teacher, Mizuki, began to try and bargain something.

"Well, this is his third go-around. And, he _did _technicallycreate a clone. We could let him pass this time," the silver-haired teacher said.

Naruto held an expectant and excited look as Iruka sat down and switched off the paperwork on his clipboard.

"I'm sorry, Mizuki-sensei. Everyone else made at least _three_ clones while Naruto made only one; a useless one at that."

Naruto glared angrily into Iruka as Iruka looked Naruto straight in the eye.

"I can't let him pass."

(----------)

It was only 30 minutes after the test, but the air had completely changed. When it was tense and heavy earlier due to the test, Naruto was able to join in. Now that the test was over, the people who passed held the proof on their arms, in their hands, around their waists, or one their foreheads. A blue band holding a steel plate with a spiraling symbol of a leaf; the symbol of the village's ninja; was all the proof they needed. They were ninja. They were adults now.

And Naruto wasn't.

Naruto sat on a swing, clutching onto one of the ropes as he looked on to the celebrating children of his class. A group that he wasn't part of.

From afar, out of Naruto's earshot, there was a conversation taking place. Apparently, a couple of people had spotted Naruto's presence on the swing. Naruto wasn't concealing himself, so they were able to point him out easily by simply looking in that direction and seeing the orange clothes that were dampened by the shade of the tree he was under.

"Hey, that kid…" one of them said.

"Yeah, I know. It's _that _kid. He's the only one that failed," the other said, looking and sneering in Naruto's direction.

Scowling as well, the first person responded with a seething remark. One that would have burned if Naruto had heard it. "Well, that's good. We can have people like _him_ becoming ninja for village, now can we? After all, he _is_—"

The other person cut her off. "_Quiet!_ We can't talk about that!"

As if Naruto heard this exchange, Naruto covered his eyes with his headband and walked away; leaving a swing swaying by the wind.

Hidden in the crowd, a man in a large red robe (one signifying his position as the Hokage) and a familiar teacher watched the blonde go.

"Iruka, I need to talk to you."

Also hidden in the crowd, another familiar silver-haired teacher watched the back of the blonde boy.

(----------)

Behind his goggles, Naruto showed nothing that would even suggest sorrow. There were no tears, no bloodshot eyes and no swollen tear glands to hide. Even he didn't know why he covered his eyes with his goggles before he left. He just did.

If anything was brought about by the failure of his test, it was a new surge of determination; one that drove to master the technique that has long eluded him. As he walked, his head started to clear. As he head cleared, he thought of what he could do. As he thought, he noticed that his legs were automatically carrying him to a training area; one where he can train in peace.

But, before he could arrive; before he could leave the cobblestone roads of the village to go the training areas, he heard a voice.

"Naruto," a familiar voice said.

As Naruto turned, he saw a familiar patch of silver hair.

"Mizuki-sensei?" he asked.

(----------)

On a random balcony in the village moments later, Naruto watched the sunset as Mizuki spoke.

"Iruka-sensei is a serious person. After his parents were killed in the Kyûbi attack, he's had to do everything himself."

Naruto looked up at Mizuki questioningly. "Then, why does he pick on me?"

Mizuki smiled and faced Naruto. "He probably sees himself in you, Naruto."

Naruto gave Mizuki a small shocked look then looked away as Mizuki continued. "He wants you to grow strong in the real way; the way that is right. Please understand; since you have no parents as well."

A small silence arose a moment later. Mizuki continued to look at Naruto with a small smile. "I still wish I had graduated, though…" Naruto said wistfully.

A small glint appeared within Mizuki's eyes. It only stayed for a split second, then it vanished as he spoke again, getting Naruto's attention.

"Well then, I'll tell you a secret."

(----------)

In the dead of night, Naruto crept slowly through the residential district. Soon, he spotted a house that had become very prominent since the Third's inauguration. Hugging one of the walls of this house with his back, he slowly and carefully moved towards an open window. When he reached it, he quickly jumped in. Sneaking quietly, Naruto moved through the surprisingly big halls of the house of the current Hokage.

"Naruto, what are you doing in my house at this time of night?" a kind, yet stern voice inquired. Naruto basically jumped out of his skin at the sound. Quickly turning, Naruto made a seal with his hands and called out the name of a technique.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

A surprised scream was heard from outside the house as Naruto sped off. The Hokage lay in a small pool of his own blood. A small stream originated from his nose as he lay unconscious.

Naruto quickly found the Third's study and sifted through the scrolls quickly until he found a significantly large one. Grinning widely, Naruto jumped out of a nearby window and sped off, using the rooftops as a pathway to the forest.

Panting slightly, Naruto sat and opened the considerably large scroll and began to read it.

"Let's see…the first skill is called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)? Damn it! Why does it start with the technique I suck at?"

(----------)

Time passed; the moon swept across the sky and the Hokage awakened from his unconsciousness. Across the village, a certain teacher lay in bed, thinking about the words that he heard earlier.

"_Iruka…"_

"_Yes, Hokage-sama?"_

"_I know how you feel about Naruto, but…he is similar to you…"_

The teacher continued to think about the event in the past that stole away the lives of both his parents. He recalled the blood, the tension and desperation, and the way he was carried away from his parents as they were sent flying by a mighty red tail.

"_No, wait!" _he called, _"My parents are still there fighting! Take me back!" _

The words rung in his head as he thought back.

"Take me back…" Iruka said sorrowfully.

He was then interrupted by a loud set of rapid, urgent knocks on his door. Jumping up quickly, he answered it. Seeing a silver-haired ninja that was familiar to him, Iruka narrowed his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked seriously.

"We must go to Hokage-sama now! Naruto has _taken the Forbidden Scroll of Seals as a joke!_"

Throwing on his ninja gear, Iruka ran out of his house. Mizuki and Iruka arrived as the ninjas were being dismissed.

"As you know, the Scroll of Seals is a set of forbidden techniques that can cause destruction if used in certain ways. It has been 6 hours since the scroll's theft. Find Naruto as soon as possible!"

(----------)

The ninjas scattered. They all headed in different directions, but only two were en route to where Naruto really was. One was Iruka and the other Mizuki. One was running on a hunch while the other ran on certainty. Their thoughts reflected their intentions.

"_If he stole the scroll to learn a technique, I should check the forest. He usually trains in there."_

"_I'll rally up a few more troops to find Naruto, and then I'll go to the forest and get rid of Naruto. I'll make it look like Naruto ran off with the scroll!"_

(----------)

In the forest, there was a clearing. In this specific clearing, there was a small wooden shack; possibly used to store a person's belongings. Also in this clearing, there is a certain blond boy.

Naruto chuckled as he attempted to figure out the puzzle that was the second technique in the scroll. He had mastered the first technique with great difficulty and banged himself up pretty badly in the process. There were stray scratches and cuts all over his body and dirt spots and blood spatters on his clothing. But, on his back, the scroll rested. He basically memorized the seal order and how he was supposed to use the technique. All that was left was to execute it.

As he ran through the seals for the second technique, he tried to direct the chakra into his hands to force out something, but it didn't seem to be working since only a small puff of forced air moved outward. Naruto fell back onto the ground, trying to catch his breath.

Naruto saw something cast a shadow over his body, blocking the moonlight. He looked up and saw the figure of Iruka, quivering in anger.

"I've _found _you…" Iruka forced out as Naruto jumped up in excitement.

"Hey, it's the nose-bleeder!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Iruka in jest.

"SHUT UP!" Iruka yelled in response.

Iruka calmed down slightly and noticed the random scratches and cuts on Naruto's body. Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head. "Darn, you found me…and I only was able to learn one skill from the scroll."

Iruka rested his hands on his hips and spoke. "Hey, why are you beaten up? What have you been doing?"

Naruto excitedly spoke in response, completely ignoring Iruka's comment. "Never mind that! I'm going to use this great skill I learned and you're going to let me pass, right?!"

Naruto turned away and formed a foreign seal in the shape of a cross as Iruka thought. _"So, he was practicing here?" _he internally said. "Naruto," he said, making Naruto turn towards him, "where did you get that scroll on your back?"

"Oh, this?" Naruto asked, pointing to his back with a grinning expression, "I heard about this scroll from Mizuki-sensei. He told me about this place, too! He said that if I was able to show you a skill from the scroll, you'd let me graduate!"

Iruka widened his eyes slightly and thought for a moment. A small silence arose from the clearing as Naruto expectantly waited for Iruka to snap out of his thoughts. Iruka narrowed his eyes slightly as he heard a small noise.

It was a small whistling; the whistling that comes from the sound of ninja weapons cutting through the air.

Shoving Naruto violently to the side, Iruka braced himself as a small hail of kunai appeared from the trees. The storm of pointy metal pierced through Iruka, thudding against the shack behind him. Iruka shielded his vitals from harm as he looked to the source.

Up in the trees stood a certain silver-haired ninja; on his body, there was a standard issue forest green vest, exactly like Iruka's. On his forehead was the steel-plated band that was the headband of the village. On his back, there were two large shuriken.

"Nice job finding him before I did, Iruka," Mizuki said with a chuckle as he stood upright.

"So, that's what you're trying to do…" Iruka said dangerously as he reached to grab the kunai embedded in his stomach.

Naruto only was able to be confused at the exchange. He looked rapidly back and forth between Iruka and Mizuki; trying to find out what was going on. It was only when Mizuki spoke that Naruto got the explanation.

"Naruto, give me the scroll," Mizuki said firmly with a crazed look in his eyes. Naruto was still confused as Iruka shouted.

"Naruto, don't give Mizuki the scroll even if it costs you your life!" he yelled as he forcefully yanked out the kunai from his abdomen.

Naruto, still confused, chose to voice his thoughts. "Hey, what the hell is going on here?!!"

"Naruto," Iruka called as he removed another kunai from his body, "that scroll contains powerful and forbidden ninjutsu in it. Mizuki used _you _to get his hands on it!"

Naruto shot Mizuki a dirty look that basically yelled his thoughts and scattered it to the four winds.

"_How dare you use ME?!!?"_

Naruto continued to glare as Mizuki chuckled evilly. "Now, now, Iruka; you didn't have to spill the beans, now did you? Since you did, I can spill another secret, am I right?"

Facing towards Naruto, Mizuki continued, "There's no point in you having it, Naruto. I'll tell you why by telling you _the truth_…"

Whatever this "truth" was, Iruka knew what it was and knew the consequences of its revelation. "No, Mizuki! Don't say it!" Iruka called out.

The shouts fell on deaf ears as Mizuki continued onward with the "truth".

"Naruto, you do know about the incident 12 years ago and the demon fox that was sealed away, right?"

Naruto only shot a puzzled look towards Mizuki, prompting him to continue. Clueless and curious, he continued to listen.

"Since that incident, there was a new rule established in the village…"

"A rule?" Naruto prompted. Iruka's shouts still rang out in the background, but neither Naruto nor Mizuki were listening.

"But, Naruto; this rule was not meant to be told to you."

"Wait, what? What's this rule?! Why wasn't it told to me?!"

Mizuki chuckled evilly once more. Naruto, still confused, looked on in puzzlement, waiting for the response to his question. A devious glint appeared within Mizuki's eyes as he finally responded.

"The rule states that no one is to speak of the fact that you are the demon fox."

The curiosity that filled Naruto moments before was filled with utter shock. Iruka let out a final yell, but this too fell on deaf ears. Mizuki added salt to the wound by continuing with an explanation.

"It means that you, Uzumaki Naruto, are the demon fox. The demon that _killed _Iruka's parents as it did so many others 12 years ago; the demon the _destroyed _the village and reduced most of it to _shambles_. By the Hokage you _admire, _you were sealed away. And by this law, you were lied to by _everyone!!!!_"

Pulling off one of the large shuriken on his back, Mizuki continued as he spun the deadly steel ring dangerously.

"Didn't you find it odd that the villagers all seemed to hate you? Didn't you feel that there was something hidden from your eyes while it seemed so obvious to everyone else?"

The wind began to howl around Naruto as the sound of the shuriken grew louder. As he prepared to throw the shuriken, Mizuki finished his statement.

"Iruka is _the same_! Deep down, he actually _hates _you!"

Naruto began to do the first thing he thought of. Clenching his eyes shut, he began to charge up his chakra. Tendrils of blue surrounded him as he focused the energy to nowhere in particular. His mind was so cloudy; he could not even come up with a technique to use. Clueless to his surroundings, he didn't notice the final yell from Mizuki followed by the sound of cutting air; the sound of the shuriken racing towards him.

Naruto could feel himself being pushed away. The sound of cut flesh and a spurt of blood were heard a moment later. He then felt the distinct splash of tears on his skin as well as the feel of dripping blood. He could also feel a presence above him.

Opening his eyes, he sees the face of Iruka smiling at him softly.

"Why…?" Naruto prompted.

"Because," Iruka began with a groan, "I was never acknowledged after my parents' death. No one was there to do so. It was so painful…"

Naruto continued to look with a look of awe as Iruka continued, "And so, I started to act like an idiot to get other people's attention since I wasn't good at anything else. But, after the small instances, the pain came back. It was so very painful…"

Naruto felt more tears on his skin. "You must have been suffering, too. If I had done a better job, you would have never had to experience this pain. I'm sorry, Naruto…"

Naruto suddenly felt the urge to run. The cloudy storm that was the torrent of his thoughts was raging in full blast. All he knew was that something was going to happen. And, when it did happen, he didn't want to be around…

As he ran, he heard an exchange between Iruka and Mizuki.

"You saw those eyes, right? Those were the eyes of a demon."

Iruka chuckled softy. "You need to look closer, then. I saw the eyes of an innocent boy."

Mizuki grunted in response. "No matter; I'll kill Naruto, get the scroll, and come back for you later."

Naruto only ran faster.

(----------)

He had been running for about an hour, now. He heard Iruka's voice telling "Naruto" to give him the scroll, but it turned out to be Mizuki disguised as Iruka and Iruka disguised as Naruto. Iruka was now leaning on a tree and Mizuki was wiping off a speck of blood from his chin.

Hiding behind a tree, Naruto listened in on the conversation.

"You'd transform into the thing that killed your parents to save its life?" Mizuki asked in confusion and arrogance.

"What about it?" Iruka asked in response.

"Now, on a more serious note," Mizuki started, "Where's the scroll?!"

Iruka only chuckled softly. "I wouldn't give the scroll to an idiot like you."

Mizuki shook his head. "Moron; don't you realize that Naruto and I are similar?"

"Similar, you say?" Iruka asked; the chuckling smile vanishing from his face.

"By using the skill sin the scroll, the user can do whatever they want," Mizuki said with a devious grin, "a demon fox can't resist using that kind of power."

Sighing, Iruka spoke, "That's true…"

Behind his tree, Naruto felt the sudden, yet slowly moving jolt of disappointment. While he had felt this kind of disappointment in the past, it was never this severe. This was understandable, seeing as the one person that acknowledged him as a person was agreeing with the person calling him a demon, and therefore defying his existence as a human being.

"_Damn; even Iruka-sensei doesn't acknowledge me…"_

"A _demon_ would use the scroll to further its own means. But Naruto is different."

This phrase made Naruto snap his head upward in shock; the disappointment quickly being seared away by Iruka's words.

"He is one of my _best_ students…"

Naruto felt a smile stretch across his face as Iruka gently corrected Mizuki's remarks.

"He may not be the hardest worker or the most popular, but he already knows the pain of neglect."

Naruto turned away. For some reason, he didn't want them to detect his joy at Iruka's remarks. It was as if Naruto felt that if he let them know, they would stop. He wanted them to last as long as possible.

"And, the last time I checked, **demons don't have feelings**. If that's true, he's not the demon fox anymore. He is a great member of this village. He _is _Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto sighed, as if letting out a breath that was held for the longest time. It was near silent, but it was the only indication past the tears rolling down his features that reflected his joyful thought.

"_Thank you, Iruka-sensei…"_

"Yeah, sure he is," Mizuki said sarcastically. Naruto quickly moved to see what was going on. Mizuki was holding his second shuriken, ready to throw it. He spun it dangerously as he spoke again.

"I thought about sparing you for the last kill of the night, but I've changed my mind. Now…"

Naruto gasped as Mizuki lunged forward. He could feel something snap within him as he moved to jump up. Iruka was far too injured to dodge.

"_So, this is the end…"_

Closing his eyes, Iruka listened to his surroundings for what he thought was his last time. He heard the rustle of trees, the whirr of the spinning shuriken, and finally _a blunt impact._

The last sound made Iruka open his eyes suddenly. At that moment, an orange blur seemed to have kneed Mizuki in the chin, making him drop the shuriken. The large shuriken sailed into the trees above as Mizuki hit the ground hard. Naruto ground his way to a halt. Standing up slowly, carrying the scroll at his side, Naruto let in one deep breath. Iruka still looked on in horror.

"Naruto; you idiot; run away!!! Why did you come out?!"

These statements fell on deaf ears as Naruto continued to stand up to Mizuki.

"You, know, now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if Iruka-sensei did hate me. But, if that were true, it wouldn't be because of the fox," a stern, calm voice stated. Mizuki looked to the source and saw Naruto's calm, yet stone-cold face. "Don't touch Iruka-sensei. Your fight is with _me_. If you try and target him, I'll **kill** you." The eerie voice made its point many times more effectively than the loudest shout. However, Mizuki only reared back for a moment before combating Naruto's statement with a statement of his own.

"You should _not _have _done that, _**demon. **I'll **kill **you in ONE SHOT!!!"

Performing a foreign, cross-shaped seal, Naruto continued to speak in his calm voice. "I'd like to see you try it."

Small tendrils appeared around Naruto's body as he began to elevate his voice to a yell.

"I'll return the pain **A** **THOUSAND TIMES OVER!!!**"

An enormous cloud of smoke appeared a moment later, temporarily blinding Mizuki and Iruka. They heard small rustles in the trees around them followed by a yell that seemed to come from everywhere.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!!!"

As the yell died down, the smoke began to clear. Both ninja were appalled by the sight they saw next.

The forest landscape had been painted orange. In every direction, there were at least 20 Naruto clones. On the ground, there were at least 500. In the trees, it was likewise. Mizuki suddenly found himself in a horrid position.

There was nowhere to run to.

"What's wrong?" at least a thousand similar voices taunted, "I thought you were going to kill me in one shot!"

Mizuki fell over in shock as all the clones proceeded to move closer to him.

"Well, if you're not going to do anything, I guess I'll have to start off!" all the clones yelled in unison.

The screams from the forest did not cease until sunrise.

(----------)

Mizuki now lay beaten and bloody before Iruka. Still leaning on the tree, Iruka watched as the clones began to vanish, their job completed. Iruka smirked slightly.

"_Wow, he really did divide into 1000. No, more than a thousand. They weren't illusions, either. They were flesh and blood clones produced by the high level ninjutsu, Kage Bunshin. He may really surpass all the Hokage," _Iruka thought as Naruto chuckled in front of him.

Scratching his head nervously and pointing towards the beaten body of Mizuki, he only said one phrase.

"I guess I overdid it a little…"

Iruka only smiled before...

"Naruto, come here for a second," he said.

(----------)

A rustle of something being removed, the feeling of his goggles being removed, and the feeling that something was put in its place was perceived by Naruto while his eyes were closed.

"Can I open my eyes, yet?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"No, not yet," Naruto heard as he felt something being tightened on his head.

After a little adjustment of the thing on his forehead, Naruto heard Iruka speak.

"Okay; now you can open your eyes."

Naruto didn't see anything new. In fact, something seemed to be missing. Naruto saw Iruka's smiling face, but his forehead was bare. Naruto reached up to his forehead slowly and felt a cloth band. He reached up further and felt the clod metal plate. Engraved in the pate was a spiral pattern in the shape of a leaf. He dropped his hand and looked at Naruto in shock.

"Congratulations; you pass!"

Naruto chuckled and gave an awkward smile. Iruka grinned while suggesting a visit to the ramen shop. But, for the last time that morning, the statement fell on deaf ears…

…as Naruto tackled the teacher in a bear hug.

(----------)

A/N: Good? Bad? Tell me. I really want to know. I'm aware that a majority of this chapter is a direct copy of the events in the anime/manga with detail added on my part to make it more real in the eyes of the reader since there are no pictures in plain text past the internal images that are gathered by reading, but I needed to get it down as a baseline first. One of the only differences thus far is the fact that I shortened the Kyûbi revelation scene. You'll start to see better differences in the next chapter, I promise.

Please review and don't hold back.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

(----------)

**The Howling Wind**

**Chapter 2: The Signs**

_They say dreams are the windows of the soul--take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts._

-Henry Bromel, _Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991_

(----------)

It was a dark corridor. Nothing was visible in the pitch black scenery except the faint lines of the walls to the two sides of the occupant inside. The occupant was merely walking.

Naruto's soft steps echoed eerily throughout the area, amplifying his presence. He walked slowly and cautiously, going nowhere in particular, trying to see if the corridor led somewhere. It seemed he had been walking for hours, but he had no idea how much time had past. He swept his head back and forth, looking for any sign of a diverging path or even the slightest irregularity of the perfectly flat walls around him.

Naruto suddenly felt a jolt. He had no idea what it was nor where it came from, but he knew something was there. The jolt was followed by a gust of wind that rolled down the corridor, sending a chill down Naruto's spine. Retaining his footing, he tried to continue to walk forward.

"Hello?" he called out, trying to see if anyone was there. He knew someone—something—was there. He just didn't know what. All he heard was the echoing voice of his call and the howl of the wind around him. All he could feel was the aura that continued to rush through the hallway. Drawing a kunai from his side, he called out again, stopping as the winds quelled around him.

"Who's there?!" he yelled, brandishing his kunai threateningly. The aura spiked, making Naruto tighten his grip on the blade.

"Answer me!" Naruto commanded; angrily throwing the kunai forward into the darkness; towards where Naruto thought the aura come from. Hearing the metallic clatter of the kunai hitting the stone-like flooring of the hallway, the sound reached his ears; carrying another message with it. The voice was familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

"_So, I see you've come. It's about time…"_ a voice called, the calm tone and the metallic screech melding into one in Naruto's ears.

Naruto felt another jolt shortly after. This time, the jolt signaled something similar to being surrounded by something. Naruto could no longer see the walls around him as the darkness arrested his sense of sight even further. His arm seemed frozen in place as Naruto struggled to draw another weapon. His legs have long since become immobile.

Naruto then felt a rush similar to being bodily thrown. The reflexive action to scream whilst feeling this sensation did not come, but he felt the air rushing around him. His sight began to diminish even further, becoming almost blind. He felt his body being dropped onto something soft, though he did not know what it was. The next thing he knew, he was seeing the red tint of the sun through his closed eyelids. Shielding his eyes, he opened them slowly, trying to piece together what just happened. He looked around cautiously, seeing the familiar place that was his apartment, complete with the possessions he had, most of them in disrepair.

"_What the hell was that?" _Naruto thought as he sat up, the covers slipping off as he looked outside through his bedroom window. Looking down to his clothes, he saw that he was wearing his night gear. Slightly confused and still tired, Naruto looked over to his calendar. Seeing the date and what was marked on it, he switched his thoughts rather quickly. Rubbing his eyes groggily, he shoved his confusion to the back of his mind and moved to begin his day.

(----------)

It was another day. And, in this village, no day was complete without Naruto pulling some sort of stunt that annoyed the people to no end. Today, there was one person who experienced the exasperation that was Naruto's antics. At least, this guy had a little time to go and warn the public. This person was a photographer.

But…this stunt was not focused on annoying the public as a whole. It was only focused on annoying a select group of people. At this point, it wasn't all that big. But, whenever he became famous (and he intended to), people would know him by the trick he pulled this day.

On this day, he was expected to take an official picture for his ninja file. He did so, but he made it so no one would forget him if they were to see his picture only once.

The photographer made sure to ask Naruto if he was _absolutely certain _that he wanted the picture to be taken given his appearance. Between his skin, painted white, and the fact that the red spirals all about his exposed skin made him look like some sort of wacky play actor in a costume, the photographer didn't know where to start.

Naruto had the picture taken anyway. The photographer shrugged before taking the picture with the most professionalism he could muster in this situation.

Simply put, he looked like a freak…

And, when the Third Hokage took a look at the picture, he thought so too.

The rest of the file was no better. "Hobby: troublemaking"? "Favorite food: Ramen; especially miso"? The file's contents had nothing to do with Naruto's skill as a ninja. It was useless! But, the Third had to start with the one part of the profile that stood out the most…the picture.

"Retake it," the Third said bluntly, interrupting Naruto's tirade about how long it took to prepare for the picture. Naruto almost fell off the chair he was sitting on in shock. The Third took this opportunity to point out the obvious flaws in the profile. But, it still starts with the picture.

"Where's your forehead protector?" the Third asked, "You're supposed to be representing the village with this photograph."

"I'm saving it for tomorrow. It wouldn't do me any good if it were damaged, right?" Naruto said, somewhat miffed at the idea of having his picture insulted.

"The ninja files are used to list all the ninjas in the village with high ability. This document should be important to you, but you show up using this face?!" the Third accused.

"Well, it's an example of who I am?!" Naruto shot back.

Both occupants of the room then heard a small creak of the door leading into the room. Both parties looked towards the door, expectant of the newcomer. They weren't disappointed.

The door burst in suddenly. A boy wearing what seemed to be a gray plastic helmet and a long blue scarf dashed forward.

"Prepare yourself, old man!" the little boy yelled as he drew a shuriken from his small side pouch. Naruto watched as the "old man" shook his head in slight annoyance as the little boy tripped over his own excessively long blue scarf. Apparently, the scarf was longer than the boy was tall…

Also, apparently, his arrogance was equal to or greater than Naruto's. Because, after this happened and after he whined about some sort of "trap", the little boy turned on the only other occupant of the room before he tripped: Naruto.

"You set a trap here, didn't you?!" the little boy shouted accusingly.

Naruto quickly became annoyed at this remark. He could understand being accused of something he did, but this _little boy _had the gall to accuse him of something he didn't do. It wasn't really the first time it happened, but the accusers were all adults. We're talking about a boy who is half Naruto's size.

"What the hell are you talking about, moron?!" Naruto yelled soon after, holding the little boy up by the collar of his shirt and by the oversized scarf, "You tripped over your own damn scarf!"

Just as suddenly as the appearance of the little boy, a larger man wearing a black jumpsuit dashed into the room. And, just as loud as the shrimp that Naruto was holding off the ground at the moment, he yelled into the room. This time, however, the target seemed to be Naruto.

"You put down Konohamaru-sama this instant!" the man yelled. Naruto rolled his eyes. Feeling slightly rebellious—even after the picture—he spoke back.

"What if I don't want to?!" he yelled. He didn't tighten the grip he had on the little boy's shirt collar, but he made sure to pay attention, just in case the boy wanted to try anything dirty.

"Why you insolent—do you have any idea who you are holding up right now? That's the grandson of the Third Hokage-sama!!"

Naruto seemed to calm down for a slight moment to look down at the boy. He switched his gaze back and forth between the two relatives in the room. There was this short, puny, little boy and then there was the regal, respectable, old man. It was _very hard_ to see how they were related.

Then, Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by an outburst from the shrimp he was holding up.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Hit me! Or are you afraid of the fact that the Third's my grandfather?!"

It was then that Naruto felt the need to teach this little boy a small lesson. As he based the boy over the head with his fist, making sure the boy could feel it though both the plastic helmet and the thick skull he definitely had, he said one phrase that summarized his point quite nicely.

"I don't care if he's your _grandmother_!!!!"

The lesson: some people honestly _don't give a crap _what your connections are.

(----------)

The day had gone south for Naruto since that moment…sort of. Even though he didn't particularly _like_ the fact that this nosy little kid was trying to pick up his masterpiece of a technique, he _enjoyed _the positive attention; something that isn't gotten very often.

The boy demanded to learn the technique that he used the day before to "defeat" his grandfather. Though Naruto wouldn't personally call it a "defeat", he still obliged the little boy. The day then proceeded to be filled with various researches to allow Konohamaru to get the structure right. After all, it won't work if the technique's result was ugly. The various researches were…frowned upon, to say the least. The duo of Naruto and Konohamaru were thrown out of many bookstores and run out of the side of town close to the bathhouses. But, the damage had been done. Konohamaru now knew what to do. It took an entire afternoon of re-working, but Konohamaru had finally finished it. The Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) had been passed on.

It was only after the teaching had been complete when Naruto finally was able to ask something that had been bugging him for a good portion of the afternoon.

"Hey, kid," Naruto said, getting Konohamru's attention. The boy in question looked over his self-proclaimed "boss".

"Why did you attack the Old Man Hokage?" Naruto asked with a small curious lilt in his voice. Nothing else.

The little boy sighed, looking down onto the forest ground below him. "You know who I am, right?" Konohamaru asked in response to Naruto. Nodding slightly, Naruto only urged Konohamaru to continue.

"Yeah, well, I'm only the Old Man's shadow. It's always "Honorable Grandson" this, "The Grandson of the Third Hokage" that, but never what I want to be," Konohamaru said, rolling his eyes at his own statements.

"I've always wanted to be called by name every once in a while, even if my Grandfather named me after the village. My name isn't "Honorable Grandson". It's Konohamaru. I just wish that people would understand that."

"And that's why I want to be the Hokage one day. That way, I will be acknowledged as "Konohamaru", not "The Grandson of the Third Hokage"," Konohamaru said wistfully, looking up to the sky as he spoke.

Naruto looked at the little boy for a moment, looking away only a second later. Scoffing and speaking quite bluntly Naruto began to speak from experience, looking back to the one person that he _knew _acknowledged him.

"Who the heck would acknowledge a punk like you, idiot?" Naruto asked, driving an arrow into Konohamaru's vision of success. Konohamaru responded accordingly.

"What the hell?!" Konohamaru yelled indignantly, "What are you talking about?!"

Naruto only shrugged simply. "The Hokage name is not easy enough to obtain that a squirt like you could get it! It's just not that easy, moron! You keep spouting the name "Hokage", but you'll never be able to get unless you…"

"What?! What do I have to do?!" Konohamaru screamed; fuming as Naruto spoke.

Naruto smirked.

"Kick _MY _ass, first. Then we'll talk about being Hokage."

That shut Konohamaru up quickly. He was left speechless as Naruto continued to grin deviously.

(----------)

The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful. After the conversation between Naruto and Konohamaru, Ebisu-sensei (as Konohamaru called him) showed up and tried to forcefully take away Konohamaru from Naruto's company. Naruto didn't really do anything as Konohamaru used his prized technique against the high-level jônin. Naruto didn't do anything as the man did _not _go flying due to the technique.

Naruto did do something, however, when Konohamaru was starting to be dragged away by his scarf and Ebisu was insulting him very bluntly, stating that Konohamaru would only become stupid in his presence.

Simply put, Ebisu got a 1st class ticket on the Nosebleed Bullet Train; sending him around 50 meters away.

This encounter ended with Naruto walking away from a Konohamaru that was now renouncing the fact that Naruto was his "boss" and reclaiming him as a "rival". His last statement seemed to shake Konohamaru.

"Well then, I'll be looking forward to our fight later on, _Konohamaru_."

(----------)

This time it was a blizzard. Though the blizzard seemed to be under the freezing conditions that blizzards usually come, the chilling wind did not seem cold to the blonde ninja. However, the violent winds and the swirling particles of frozen water were consuming all his senses, and Naruto felt that he still needed to push forward. While it wasn't a hallway this time, there was a compelling force that was leading him on the path he was taking. Without the force leading him, Naruto would be lost in the frosty wasteland that surrounded him on all sides.

The snow began to pile beneath his feet as more of his legs began to become consumed in the frosty wasteland that was this location. While he still didn't know where he was, the faint feel of familiarity was present.

Naruto moved slowly and carefully; struggling to keep his balance, trudging through the snow and moving ever closer to the beacon that was leading him. The force of the beacon seemed to grow ever stronger and the winds seemed to begin to die down around him as he moved closer.

Naruto slowed his movement to a walk as the winds quelled to the level of a small breeze. The snow continued to fall and the cold of the area still had not reached his senses.

He drew to a stop as the beacon ceased. Becoming slightly alarmed, Naruto quickly looked around.

He drew a kunai as he felt an aura; an aura similar to the one he felt within the dark corridor. Quickly feeling a surge of annoyance, he began to track the aura, using his senses to the best of his ability to find where it was coming from.

"Damn it," Naruto cursed as he looked around him, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Angrily throwing his kunai down into the snow, Naruto watched as the metal blade cut through the snow in front of him; creating a small hole. Huffing slightly at his outburst, Naruto moved to draw another weapon.

His hand stopped suddenly, as if frozen like the snow around him. From everywhere at once, he heard a chuckle as the cold of the environment began to reach his senses. As if an answer to his question, the hole made by his kunai began to snake outward into a small spiral. Squinting his eyes, he looked onward the mark in the snow continued to spiral outward; the kunai's hole as its center.

Naruto's eyes widened as an eerie, calm voice began to resonate about the field of snow. The voice was the same as before. The winds picked up around Naruto, the voice harmonizing with the wind; the howl of the gust carrying the tenor of the message. Naruto could only brace himself as he was buffeted by the snow.

"_I'm here. I always have been. Ever since you came to be, I was here."_

Naruto only stood confused as the winds picked up once more, sweeping Naruto off his feet and into the frozen sea of snow behind him. Sinking under the frost, Naruto was surrounded by the cold as he began to fall. The light of the surface began to fade as he fell further down into the icy abyss.

As it vanished, Naruto saw the distinct sight of the morning sun through his eyelids. Just like the morning before, he shielded his eyes and opened them; looking onto the new day.

And just like before, this event was shoved into the back of Naruto's thoughts.

(----------)

Today was important, after all. Nothing really happened, but it was important nonetheless.

It all started after Naruto went back into the academy; for the first time since the genin exam.

He sat in his regular seat, chuckling softly as he wore his headband. His goggles were left at home, all but discarded since Naruto woke up that morning.

He was in a good mood; that much was certain. Confident and ready to begin his life as a ninja, he didn't even flinch as another student spotted him and started to try to reprimand the blonde boy.

"Hey, Naruto; what are you doing here?! Only graduates are allowed here!" the student shouted; getting in Naruto's face as he did so.

Still chuckling softly, Naruto pointed to the headband on his forehead and spoke cockily, making sure the student knew that he wasn't pulling a fast one.

"You see this? This is proof that I'm a ninja!" Naruto said, smirking as he spoke.

Well, the conversation stopped there and the day did not get much more interesting. Naruto was focused on a girl all morning. This girl was a pink-haired person with a complexion. She was wearing a red, knee-length dress-like garb along with a pair of ninja pants. All in all, it was nothing special to look at. Naruto, however, thought differently.

And so, when the other student (the one that was "reprimanding" Naruto) was told to move aside, Naruto immediately thought, _"Does she want to sit next to me?" _with a slight blush growing on his face.

This thought was quickly squashed by a brash remark telling Naruto to "move his ass".

And so, the day continued with the girl fawning over the boy sitting on the other side of the row of three seats. Naruto was on the left end, the girl sitting in the middle seat, and a boy sitting on the right end. Naruto gave a cautious gaze to his left, seeing the sparkling eyes of the girl. He looked past the girl momentarily to see the person she was looking at. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he looked at the other person.

The other person ignored the presences of both Naruto and the girl. Obviously not interested, the block-haired boy just continued to look forward.

The day began to go downhill from this point, especially after a combination of Naruto's curiosity and annoyance towards the other boy got him into a rather…embarrassing situation involving a kiss. Neither the kisser nor the kissee liked the situation at all…

The kisser then got a hefty beating from other potential kissers who all wished to be the first to kiss the kissee, but are now unable to kiss the kissee first since the kisser kissed the kissee at this point in time.

As the teacher walked in the classroom moments later, the kisser was covered in bruises; most of them being right on the kisser of the kisser.

"Now, as of this moment, you are all ninjas of Konoha. However, you are all still rookie ninja, or genin. So, until you are more skilled, you will be placed on teams of three and led by a higher lever jônin sensei. Let's start off…"

Naruto paid attention as the teams were read off. Names he recognized and names he didn't recognize were placed on these 3-man squads. He kept a watch for the names he did recognize while focusing on his name, and the name of the pink-haired girl he wanted to be teamed with.

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura; Uzumaki Naruto…"

Naruto outwardly cheered at that while the girl next to him groaned in annoyance. Naruto sat down quickly as he focused on looking for the black-haired boy that he _didn't _want to be teamed with.

"…and Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura's and Naruto's roles were quickly switched. Sakura was now cheering loudly as Naruto groaned loudly in annoyance.

Naruto felt a large surge of annoyance as he began to yell without really thinking. "Why the hell do I have to be on a team with an idiot like him when I'm such a genius ninja?!" Naruto yelled indignantly as he pointed towards the black-haired boy. Sakura shot a dangerous and dirty look towards the blonde boy.

"Naruto," Iruka began slowly, "we had to balance the teams out. While Sasuke had the best scores of this graduating class, you…had the worst."

"Just don't get in my way…" the cold voice of Sasuke started, "Dead Last."

"What did you call me?!" Naruto yelled in response.

Iruka only groaned at Naruto's outburst.

(----------)

Remember, nothing really happened today.

Naruto moved to get revenge for the embarrassing situation in the classroom earlier that day. And so, during the lunch break before the genin teams met their jônin sensei, Naruto put his plan into action.

Sasuke, being a loner, always ate in the same place every day while making sure he was not followed by the large fan club he carried along against his will. He changed his position every so often to make sure that the fan club people don't figure out his hiding spot. The most recent hiding spot was in an unused building that stored the supplies used for physical training. This room had a small window and a small door, making it both secluded and easy to escape from if need be.

Naruto took advantage of his relative security in this location and jumped in through the window without warning. There was the sound of a quick scuffle before Sasuke jumped out of the window, smirking as he did so.

Naruto jumped out soon after…

"_Damn," _he thought, _"I forgot that he was the best at using Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)."_

He quickly gave chase to Sasuke and saw him talking to Sakura about something as he drew closer to the academy. Quickly scurrying up a nearby tree and listening in, he heard a large bit of their conversation. Through the leaves, Naruto couldn't see who was talking at the moment, but he could still hear.

"He hasn't had a normal childhood…" he heard a female voice say, obviously Sakura's. Curiously, Naruto continued to listen.

"He doesn't have any parents," he heard Sakura continued. Naruto was still curious as to whom she was talking about, but he continued to listen in.

"He could do whatever he wants. If my parents ever caught me doing stuff like what he does, they would tan my hide. He's so lucky; being all alone, he never has to worry about his parents getting on his case. That's why he misbehaves so much."

Naruto wasn't watching them, but he was still sure that Sakura was still talking. He was still wondering whom she was talking about.

"Sakura," a male voice said, obviously Sasuke's by the cold tone, "You have no idea how bad it feels, do you? The fear of a parent's wrath is _nothing _compared to the pain of not having them at all…"

"What's this, all of a sudden? I'm only talking about Naruto."

Naruto widened his eyes behind his cloak of tree leaves.

"_Lucky, huh?" _Naruto thought as he continued to listen.

"You're annoying," he heard Sasuke say. The sound was quickly followed by a series of footsteps heading towards the doors of the academy. Sakura called after him, running after him, leaving only the sound of rushed footsteps in her departure.

Naruto jumped out of the tree and chuckled to himself.

"She thinks I'm lucky?" Naruto asked towards no one in particular, looking up to the sky as he spoke.

"How gravely misinformed…" he heard soon after his statement. The wind picked up around him, carrying a few of the leaves along with it. The voice, a soft whisper, was calm, yet sorrowful; carried by the wind around him. The worst part of it all was…

…it sounded familiar. The soft, calm, tenor sounded like something he heard before.

Confused, Naruto stood for a moment, looking around for the source. He looked for somebody who could have spoken, but he found none. As he was about to call out, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

Shoving the whisper's origin to the side in his mind, he raced off into the academy, needing to get inside to meet the one who will make him a ninja. After all, the whisper was nothing special.

After all, _nothing happened_ today…

After all, today _was _more important.

(----------)

A/N: Yeah, I know. I stole a line off of the English anime. I don't care what other people say about it (I do dislike it, after all), but some of the lines are just plain hilarious (and unusable in Japanese context). I just needed to use that "grandmother" line, so please don't yell at me for that. Instead, yell at me if you didn't like the chapter. I tried to put in a little more of the changes I made into the plot, but I could only do so much while keeping the readers' interest.

And, thank you to all who have reviewed thus far. Thanks for the compliments about the 1st chapter and my writing style, even though the 1st chapter was just about a carbon copy of the early chapters/episodes of the manga/anime.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

(----------)

**The Howling Wind**

**Chapter 3: The Hidden**

"_We fear that which we cannot see."_

-_Bleach_ Volume 1 Tagline

(----------)

It was a forest. The trees flanked Naruto on all sides as he nervously looked about. The clouded sky bore forth a torrent of falling rain; drenching Naruto to the core. Like the times before, Naruto did not know where he was, nor did he know how he got to this place. He could move anywhere he wished to in this landscape, but he chose not to. Unlike the times before, this time, there was no beacon; no drawing force leading Naruto to a certain area of the environment. Merely a lingering presence and the sense of an incoming attack. Naruto didn't like it one bit. He was free to go wherever he pleased, but was unable to move since his senses were blaring at full volume.

"Show yourself! I know you're here!" Naruto shouted out into the wilderness; the rain slightly drowning out his voice with its roar.

Naruto heard a cold, hard laugh emanate from the trees around him. Growing nervous, Naruto drew a kunai out of his weapons pouch. He tensed; the grip on his kunai tightening as he yelled again.

"Where are you?!" Naruto screamed, the water dribbling off hi face and his drenched hair.

The hard chuckle began to echo off of the trees around him as Naruto swept his head from side to side, looking for any sign of movement whatsoever.

"_I'm right in front of you. I've always been here. Haven't you noticed?"_ a voice eerily inquired as Naruto tried to track the voice.

Naruto then felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. It felt like a kick, but nothing was there. Recovering quickly, he held his kunai at the ready.

"_I've always been here."_

Naruto then felt an impact to his ribs. It felt like imaginary knuckles were digging into his flesh. He took a peek to his left side and saw nothing but a faint outline. Ignoring the pain, he clutched his kunai in his right and drove it to the silhouette's "head". The kunai seemed to bounce off as the outline became slightly clearer. The silhouette looked up at him and spoke, the "eyes" seeming to peer into his soul. The kunai still hovered in the air, over the silhouette's forehead; over a faint outline of a steel plate. The silhouette's hand pulled back; out of Naruto's ribs.

"_Can you see me now?" _the voice called with a slight smirk on his "face".

Naruto was then harshly kicked on his leg. He then felt a strong wind burst from the silhouette's direction as he flew into the darkness that appeared behind him. The trees disappeared slowly around him as the clearing disappeared from view; the silhouette disappearing with it.

(----------)

Naruto awoke as if shocked. Quickly looking around him, he was puzzled to see that he was within the school classroom. Along with him, there were only two more occupants of the room; Sakura and Sasuke. No one else was there. Looking up at the clock, he saw that it was two hours after the time when the teacher was supposed to arrive. Needless to say, Naruto quickly got annoyed after that realization.

"Where the hell is our teacher?!" Naruto yelled; stomping towards the doorway and yanking it open. This outburst sent a jolt through Sakura and Sasuke, snapping them back into reality.

Luckily for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, it wasn't long until their sensei arrived. It was only around 5 minutes later. In those five minutes, however, Naruto continued to rant somewhat about how badly their teacher was going to be if the teacher couldn't even make an appointment on time. This rant only ended soon before he arrived when Naruto set a chalkboard eraser on the top of the only entryway to the room past the window on the other side of the room. Then again, Naruto didn't really think about that…

Well, Naruto stood at the ready, waiting for the fruits of his labor while Sakura and Sasuke were reprimanding him about the fact that there was ABSOLUTELY _no way _that a _jônin _would fall for a trick like _that_. And then…

"_Bonk!"_

A mop of silver hair appeared in the doorway. The door was open a little more than it was when Naruto put the eraser in position, and that was the point. The "trap" had worked and the silver-haired man stood upright. It was very tense and very awkward silence that rose from the environment as the three genin looked bewildered at the so-called jônin. Naruto's eyes in particular traveled from the eraser on the ground to the lazy eyes of their new teacher. The silence was still prominent as the jônin looked down at the "trap" that he "fell for".

Sakura and Naruto seemed to begin speaking at the same time.

"Ha! I can't believe you fell for that!!!" Naruto yelled, pointing and heartily laughing at the sensei's "blunder".

"I'm sorry, sensei. I tried to stop him, but Naruto-kun wouldn't listen. Please forgive my teammate's rudeness…" Sakura said apologetically; a small, almost unnoticeable smirk gracing her features; indicating that she actually enjoyed the prank's results.

Sasuke only continued to sit in his chair, looking on in exasperation with a mere raised eyebrow at the person that was _supposed_ to teach them how to be a full-fledged ninja. If the guy couldn't dodge a chalkboard eraser, how the hell was he going to teach them how to dodge the more dangerous things? While he didn't say anything aloud, he was silently reprimanding the jônin for being so idiotic in the presence of the new generation of ninja.

All of them, including Sasuke, were "silenced" by a simple raise of the hand by the silver-haired man. Naruto stopped laughing momentarily, though he was still chuckling, Sakura stopped attempting to apologize, though she still retained the combined look of humility and amusement from the prank, and Sasuke continued to think disapprovingly towards the teacher, despite the fact that the teacher had a majority of his attention and was now the target of an intense glare from the near-silent boy.

The teacher, now fully standing, looked around the classroom to his three students. His students wee now able to get a good look at the guy's face. He looked similar to Iruka in attire; the only difference residing in the fact that his facial features were almost completely blank.

"Let's see… How should I say this?" there was a slight pause as the silver-haired man obtained a contemplative expression, "My first impression of you all is…"

Another pause arose as the tension began to vanish…

"I hate you all."

The tension was quickly replaced by a feeling of heavy exasperation…

(----------)

It turns out; the guy's name was Hatake Kakashi. The team of genin and the jônin were all on the roof of the academy now, the cool breeze casually blowing through as they got to know each other. Kakashi _said _that the genin should give an introduction including their likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams, but when prompted with his own request…_this _was his response.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes or dislikes. As for my dream…I have few hobbies."

Naruto rolled his eyes at that. Sakura faced the rest of the team and stated the obvious fact that they only got his name. Sasuke only continued to look forward with a slight glare. Kakashi crossed his arms and prompted them to answer now. Gazing towards Sakura, he asked her to make the first call.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…well, the person I like is…" Sakura snuck a glance to her left, "My hobby is…My dream for the future is…" she said; continuing to sneak glances toward her left side. She then punctuated her introduction with a loud squeal. Though she didn't say anything much more than Kakashi did, her actions spoke volumes. There was still something missing, though; and Kakashi did not fail to point that out.

"And your dislikes are…" Kakashi started, expecting Sakura to finish the statement.

"NARUTO," Sakura said bluntly. Naruto groaned in anguish over the remark. No one present gave it any mind. Gesturing towards Sasuke, Kakashi looked over to the silent boy. He spoke, but his tone clearly stated that he did not want to waste his time giving information that the other people present did not _need _to know. His voice also said that he did not _want _them to know the information either.

"Uchiha Sasuke; I like very little and dislike many. My dream is something that I do not intend to leave as such. My _ambition_ is to revive my clan and to _kill _a **certain someone**."

Sasuke was not one to waste his words. He said all he needed to say within a couple breaths. But, in doing so, he also succeeded in creating a heavy mood which descended quickly on the people present. Naruto looked at Sasuke with a puzzled and slightly fearful expression, simply hoping that the target was not Naruto himself. Sakura was simply revering in the coolness that Sasuke seemed to have obviously radiated out with that statement. Kakashi's expression was simply unreadable. Instead, Naruto was signaled to start his intro. Naruto quickly snapped out of his reverie and begun.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramen, but I like the ramen down at Ichiraku's better, especially when Iruka-sensei buys it for me. I hate the three minutes that I have to wait for the ramen to cook. My hobby is eating and comparing different cup ramen," Naruto said with an excited air about him. He heard a slight scoff from somewhere around him, but he paid it no mind as he finished off his introduction, "And my dream is to surpass _all _of the Hokage. I want everyone to recognize my existence!" Naruto was grinning widely as he finished; adjusting his forehead protector as he did so.

Kakashi widened his visible eye slightly. This action went unnoticed by the genin present. In fact, the other two occupants of the roof seemed to have ignored the entire speech. Naruto's grin began to fade as the silence began to descend on him. He felt somewhat awkward as Kakashi broke the silence with a remark that was to be expected from a teacher.

"You guys have unique personalities. I like that. After all, we _are _starting a mission first thing tomorrow."

Simply put…Kakashi told them that they were going to be training the next day. It was survival training; something that they've already done back in the ninja academy. But, then again, the "training" was also said to be a test on whether or not they were able to become true genin, not just a "graduate" which they currently were. Obviously, the test they took in the academy was only a preliminary round to the real test that would take place the next day. This test, however, had a fail rate of 66 percent, as said by Kakashi.

They were told to meet at the ungodly hour of 5:00 in the morning while lugging all of their ninja gear and skipping breakfast so that they wouldn't "throw up", as Kakashi warned them.

The next day, the test began with a simple reconnaissance task; get one of the two bells off of Kakashi's waist before noon (Kakashi arrived at 9:00, by the way, to the great annoyance of the students) or the genin would not have lunch. "In fact," Kakashi said, pointing to a trio of identical wooden poles all in a line, "anyone who fails will be tied on those posts over there while I eat in front of you." At that point, the genins' stomachs collectively groaned; emphasizing Kakashi's point.

The test was…amusing, to say the least. Each one of the students had their butts handed to them swiftly by the "horrible jônin who couldn't even dodge a stupid chalkboard eraser".

Sakura was subjected to the least damage (physical or emotional) of the three; only sustaining a small amount of mental trauma after seeing her "precious Sasuke-kun" impaled with numerous sharp pointy objects; knocking her out. After that, her faintness of heart reared its ugly head once more…when Sasuke's "disembodied head" was seen sticking out of a hole in the ground.

Sasuke was 2nd on the ranking of the most damage sustained, since he got a complementary butt-whipping by the jônin, resulting in the majority of his body being buried within the rocky ground of the training area they were using. This was the cause of the "disembodied head" scene that knocked Sakura out for the second time that day, mortifying him. While Sasuke was the closest to obtaining the bells, he failed to do so, much to his dismay.

Naruto, by far, tried the hardest to get the bells. But, he was quite…unconventional in his methods. Instead of hiding like a normal ninja would have (Sasuke and Sakura did so very quickly, as expected), Naruto confronted Kakashi head on. Well, it was a very entertaining battle after that. Naruto initially began with a wave of kicks and punches towards the one-eyed jônin, but they were all blocked.

This wouldn't be all that shocking if the guy wasn't reading a book while doing so.

Naruto tried to nail Kakashi with a few more kicks and punches after that, but they were all dodged or blocked. Kakashi wasn't even breaking a sweat as Naruto became more and more annoyed at the silver-haired man. If was after a particularly ferocious punch (that was effortlessly dodged by Kakashi) that things got interesting again. It was because, after said punch, Kakashi crouched down behind Naruto; his hands clenched together while his index and middle fingers on both hands remained outstretched.

With good reason, the other two genin (who were both hidden and out of harm's way) quickly became worried. The hand position that Kakashi was using was not different from the hand-seal that was used to convert chakra into fire. Naruto, blissfully unaware of what was behind him, began to hear Sakura's shouts a split second before the attack was launched. The good news was; Naruto wasn't going to be fried by a high-level ninjutsu technique.

The bad-news was; it wasn't a bluff.

The technique was called, "Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu Ôgi: Sennen Goroshi (Hidden Leaf Secret: Taijutsu Supreme Technique: Thousand Years of Death)"…and it was very…interesting.

It was a rather…embarrassing impact to the posterior area that sent Naruto…flying, for lack of a better word, into the nearest body of water, which in this situation, happened to be a small lake. Needless to say, the "ass-poke", as it was so neatly said by Naruto, was not something that he forgave so easily.

He tried. It was a very well-placed Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) that seemed to have worked by ensnaring Kakashi from behind, but it was an equally well-placed Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique) that got Kakashi out; making Naruto think that Kakashi transformed into one of his clones; resulting in Naruto being beat up by his own clones.

In a final act of "stupidity", Naruto spotted a bell on the ground near a tree. Naturally, he went to pick up the bell; reveling in his "free ride". As he got close enough, though…

There was a snap and the sound of a contracting piece of rope. It was a fraction of a second later that Naruto found himself dangling helplessly upside-down from a tree branch. It was from this position (though he made it down near the end of the time period provided) that he spent a majority of his time. He enjoyed the view as he got a very detailed lecture from the book-reading jônin concerning how deception was the key to becoming a successful ninja and how techniques have to be used wisely. True, the lecture was interrupted by a large hail of shuriken and kunai that was thrown at the jônin (which was easily avoided by another Kawarimi, leaving a log in the wake of the metal wave), but Naruto was still heavily annoyed at his situation.

In other words, Kakashi outsmarted all of them in one way or another. He succeeded in, nearly effortlessly, embarrassing every single member of his new team as well as seem to be everywhere at once; from where Sakura went to track Sasuke after Naruto was snared in the trap to where Sasuke was waiting for him, to where Naruto was; attempting to get a good meal tucked in without Kakashi's knowledge. And so, Naruto took the most damage, both physically and mentally.

It was only after the test when something got interesting once again.

Kakashi was sitting in front of the three poles with Sakura and Sasuke sitting in front of two poles on the edges while Naruto was tightly bound on the center post. Kakashi was sternly reprimanding everyone about their **extremely **poor performance on the test. He just got done telling them that they should all quit being ninja. Needless to say, that statement didn't go very well with the three genin. Surprisingly, Sasuke was the first to charge forward; intending on _forcing _the jônin to pass him. He was quickly subdued. Now, the other two were forced to listen from their current positions while Sasuke was forced to listen from his position on the ground.

"You guys still don't get it, do you? Missions are done in groups. Though individual strength is important, **teamwork **is much more _vital. _An individual action that botches up the teamwork can result in peril or **death **for the teammates. For example," Kakashi said, reaching back into his weapons pouch and pulling out a dagger; holding it to Sasuke's throat, "Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!"

They were all then shocked out of their skins by that remark. It was a very relieving thing that they did not need to heed to the command. Kakashi got off of Sasuke, who was still shell-shocked by the death threat, and walked to a large, oddly-shaped, blue stone with carvings neatly etched onto it. After being introduced to the purpose of the stone (and another awkward moment for Naruto, since he basically stated that he wanted to **die **during a mission to get his name etched onto the rock), Kakashi stated that they would get one more chance to get the bells after knowing the answer to the test. He then walked away and left the three alone (with Naruto still tied to the pole), saying that the other two could eat, but not Naruto since he tried to get a head start on the lunch.

The air seemed to become heavy as Sakura and Sasuke began to eat their lunch. Since Naruto was just as hungry and he didn't get a bite before Kakashi caught him, it was a very loud stomach grumble before Sasuke offered up his lunch. Apparently, Kakashi's words got to him.

"Hurry up and eat something. You'll be useless if you're too hungry to fight," he said, offering up his plate of food.

Sakura joined in as well, offering up her food (and some of her social standing by feeding Naruto, though her social ranking would probably not be affected unless Naruto began to blab about this incident across the village, something that Sakura made him **promise **not to do) to regain Naruto's strength.

Well, as soon as that small tidbit of food made it past Naruto's lips and down his throat, something happened. It seemed to be like an explosion and it threw dust everywhere. Kakashi emerged from the cloud, furiously charging towards the three genin. A wave of fear much larger than the one they felt when Sasuke was threatened swept through all three of the genin present. Darkened clouds gathered in the sky dramatically as Kakashi performed a few hand-signs.

"So, you've broken the rules. Are you prepared to face the consequences?" Kakashi asked somewhat calmly; holding a steely gaze towards the three. The three, in responses held their own reactions. Sakura whimpered as the thunder in the skies above began to grow louder. Sasuke looked as if prepared to fight; there was no way he would go down without a decent struggle. Naruto nervously stayed still; knowing he couldn't fight anything in his current position. Yet, he was the first to speak up.

"But, you said…" Naruto started; but was interrupted by the piercing gaze of Kakashi. Swallowing his apparent fear, he continued. "B-but, you said that…that's why these two were…!" Naruto shouted, stuttering through his statement.

Glancing at Naruto for a moment, Sasuke combated Kakashi's gaze with a heated glare of his own. "We are a three-man team, aren't we?" Sasuke said; annoyance and fear combining coolly in his voice and expression.

Sakura raised her head from her half-fetal position and gave her small input. "That's right! We three are one!"

"Three are one, you say?" Kakashi asked; walking forward towards the posts, Kakashi held his gaze. Bending down to the level of the sitting genin (and in Naruto's case, tied), he began to speak once more.

"You all…" he began, holding his serious tone towards the three that seemed ready to fight (once again, except Naruto).

"…PASS!" Kakashi said, smiling through his mask and closing his visible eye. Dumbfounded, the three could only stare in amazement as the odd teacher explained that the task was to NOT obey his rules at that point. There was a small speech about how Kakashi never passed anyone else because they were stupid enough to follow the rules.

And so, the genin team was formed. Team 7 was born!

…and Naruto was left tied to the pole…

(----------)

And so, Naruto eventually got out of the binds. It took a while just for Naruto to reach his weapons pouch to try and chop the ropes, but he managed to get free.

Too bad it was nightfall by the time he finished.

Taking a deep breath, he stretched a little to get his body back. He was awfully numb after being tied up for about 4 hours. Blowing the air out of his lungs, Naruto began to take a look around.

"Well, if I'm going to be training here, I might as well take a good look around, huh?" Naruto asked aloud to no one in particular, "but, since I'm already sick and tired of this place after being tied to this stupid pole, what should I do now?"

"_You could _train _a little," _a voice said, shocking Naruto a little bit. After all, he didn't expect any kind of response. But, since he was tired and slightly delusional, Naruto actually started to speak _back_.

"Yeah, well, I don't really feel like training right now. I'm kind of tired after I got my ass handed to me," Naruto said, beginning to walk away from the poles.

"_And that's _exactly _why you should train," _the voice responded.

"Well, the guy _was _a jônin. I couldn't expect to beat _him _at my current level," Naruto said, sighing…

"_I'll give you that one, but are you able to beat Sasuke?"_

Naruto stopped in his tracks. He didn't say anything, but he did narrow his eyes a little.

"He's _your level, isn't he? A genin _should _be able to beat another genin, right?"_

Sighing once more, Naruto just sat down onto the field. "Okay, you've got my attention. Whoever the hell you are, what do you have in mind?"

Naruto heard a slight chuckle. Still not knowing the source of the voice, he now didn't really care. His sense of pride was something that was much bigger than his exhaustion at the moment.

"_Do you remember the second technique in the scroll? You know; the one you didn't master…"_ the voice asked, a slight curious lilt lacing it.

"I'm listening. What do you have in mind?" Naruto asked, curious towards this mysterious voice and its intention towards the technique in question.

"_Well, the first thing you learned was how to lace the wind with your chakra, right? If I remember correctly, you mastered this part of the technique," _the voice said with a tone of a teacher. Naruto thought for a moment and remembered using a wind-element training exercise that involved lacing chakra into the wind around him and thrusting the harmless wind forward. Thinking back, Naruto recalled the name being along the lines of "Toppû no Jutsu (Sudden Gust Technique)".

"Yeah, I got it; what do you have in mind?" Naruto asked curiously.

"_Simple," _the voice said, _"If you can't remember the technique from the scroll, __**make up your own.**__"_

The only thing that the voice got in response was an excited smile from Naruto.

(----------)

The next day; nay, the next _week_, like Kakashi said, it was missions, missions, and more missions. And, as the day went along, Naruto got more and more BORED. There was absolutely nothing interesting about raking, babysitting, weeding or shop-keeping; _especially _if all of these events were punctuated by a certain mission that seemed to come up over, and _over, _and **over, **and _**OVER. **_

It was a stupid cat that seemed to despise his owner so much that it decided to run away EVERY TWO HOURS. The fact that this cat also got enjoyment out of attempting to _gouge Naruto's face off _did not help Naruto's morale at all.

In fact, the only thing that was keeping Naruto from absolutely blowing up at the lack of excitement was the fact that Naruto spent a good 5 hours in the forest next to the training area wielding the wind into attacks that will be useful to him. So far, Naruto has only created two techniques from the basic "Toppû no Jutsu". And, given the fact that it usually takes a high level ninja at least 3 months to create one technique, this is pretty good for a genin.

Despite the fact that Naruto had to struggle more and more not to kill the familiar brown cat that he saw every 2 hours (especially after he made the techniques that consist of flying chakra-charged wind _blades_), Naruto found himself able to enjoy only one mission; mostly because it was the shortest one he performed that week.

The mission was simple: perform the weekly maintenance on the Hyûga gardens. Usually, that wouldn't seem so bad…

…unless the grounds were the size of 2 city blocks

Now, given that little tidbit of information, Naruto still managed to make this his _shortest _mission. Yes, it was even shorter than the cat mission that Naruto had gotten accustomed to.

It was a nice, sunny day in the village of Konoha. Team 7, including Naruto, were aware that this mission was bound to be long and arduous given who they were working for. If one of the most prestigious clans in the village hired your team to beautify their garden, they're bound to be picky about it before they pay you for it; even if they are richer than almost everyone in the village.

Naruto and the rest of Team 7 walked onto the compound, passing by a pair of guards at the door. Naruto noted that these guards were eyeing him suspiciously as he walked by. The groundskeeper was out on maternity leave, as said by one of the guards that appeared before them once they reached the gardens, and they were to cut the grass and trim the hedges. The weeding was done by a group the week before and the team did not need to perform that duty.

The grounds had three main gardens; the west garden, the east garden, and the south garden. The entrance to the Hyûga grounds were maintained by professionals and they did not need genin to botch up the primp look of the front yard.

In any case, the team was trying to come up with a game plan for doing the work ("Should we split up and do one yard apiece or should we work on each yard individually?"), but they were interrupted by a yell by one of the guards.

"What the _hell _are you doing here?!" the guard yelled; pointing an accusatory finger towards Naruto.

Naruto simply rolled his eyes silently and pointedly said, "I'm doing a mission. What _else _would I be doing?"

The guard still seemed indignant. "I want you off of these grounds before I count to 10! _I don't care _if you fail your mission because of it! I don't want to know that the Hyûga clan paid scum like you!"

Naruto rolled his eyes again and walked towards the western grounds. He turned a corner and went out of sight; obviously going to do his job. Kakashi and Sasuke looked indifferent as Sakura pulled a confused look.

"One…" the guard said dangerously, yet loudly so Naruto could hear it.

The people present heard a small whisper from the area in which Naruto was supposedly looking for a way out.

"Two…" the guard continued; narrowing his eyes.

"Fu…Ba…Ki…" they heard, not getting the entire whisper, but hearing small fragments.

"Three…" said the guard; stepping towards the western gardens and getting ready to physically throw out the boy from the grounds.

They heard the sound of rushing wind and the snapping of cut branches from the shrubs.

"Four…" the guard said, taking another step forward.

The sound of more rushing air reached their ears as the guard continued to count. The sound of a plastic bag flapping in the wind was heard and it slowly began to die as more wind was heard.

"Eight…" the guard said as he cracked his knuckles with a smirk; preparing to have some fun.

"THUNK"

Naruto stepped out from the corner where he turned just eight counts ago. Sure, the counts had around 15 seconds in between them, but that wasn't the point at the moment. Sakura and Sasuke could only look surprised at what was next to Naruto. The guard stopped counting in shock as Naruto moved away from the source of the sound; the thing that Naruto dropped beside him as he turned the corner.

It was a trash can full of grass clippings and pruned shrubbery.

Naruto walked towards the four people. With a wide smirk, he simply spoke to his team as his stepped past them.

"I'll get my share in the morning! See you later!" Naruto said confidently; obviously hiding something about what he just did.

The guard looked confused and even Kakashi and Sasuke had a raised eyebrow. Sakura was the first to step forward, past the trash can and around the corner. Still visible, the other three people could see Sakura's eyes widen and her mouth drop open as she saw what became of the garden.

"What the…" Sakura said as she continued to try to analyze what happened within the two minutes that they spent listening to the guard count down.

This display of confusion only piqued the interests of the other three present as they moved towards the western garden. The three were shocked as they saw what was before them.

The garden was perfectly cut and the shrubs were trimmed straight and clean. There were no stray clippings on the grass and there were no missed spots. The guard only grunted and turned to leave, muttering inquisitively about how badly he would dock Naruto's pay with the work he did.

Naruto peered over and smirked at the sight as he made his way out of the compound. After all, the best prank of all is one that you cannot get in trouble for.

And, the amount of time that passed: approximately 15 minutes from the time he walked in to the time he walked out.

(----------)

The next day, Team 7 once again met where they were to get their mission for the day. It was a large room in the Hokage tower in which people sent requests for missions and where the ninjas got their missions for the day. Today's first mission (already complete, much to the relief of Sakura and Sasuke and much to the annoyance of Naruto) was, once again, the _cat retrieval mission_.

It was finally time for a change…

"Okay, now the missions for today include babysitting, gardening, and…"

"NO THANK YOU, OLD MAN!" Naruto yelled out; outright refusing with both his voice and his bodily gestures, "Give us something _more interesting this time!!!_"

His teammates couldn't disagree with him. When usually they would be stepping away from Naruto to watch the scene of wrath unfold before them, they only looked away from Naruto as they stood beside him. Kakashi, behind them, shook his head softly, but inwardly agreed.

Iruka, who was helping out with the mission assignments that day, stood and yelled at his previous student in return, saying that genin should work their way upward. The Hokage began to speak to Team 7 about the ranking system; stating that genin should only work on D-Rank missions like they have been doing and only a few C-Rank missions when they are ready.

Naruto…ignored everything. He was simply contemplating what he would be eating for lunch that day at the ramen shop. After a stern yelling from Iruka, this was his response.

"Damn, you give me lectures like that all the time! But, if you hadn't noticed, I'm not the same brat I was a couple weeks ago!"

Iruka widened his eyes slightly before relaxing his features into a smile. The Hokage gave an approving look and gazed at Naruto.

"Fine, you shall have your mission. It is a C-Rank mission, so pay attention…"

(----------)

A/N: Man, I really didn't like this chapter…I tried to put the most original stuff in there as I possibly can while keeping the plotline the same (for this chapter at least), so forgive me for pulling another piece of carbon-copy like Chapter 1 was.

Now, I need your help now. I just need a little input about what you want to see as a next chapter. I don't really like the Wave Country Arc, meaning I may or may not include it (especially when I can come up with something original). I have a couple different ideas, so I need to know what you (my readers) would like to see in its place. It will be a bodyguard/escort mission like the Wave Country Arc, but I need to know who you'd like to see Team 7 protect _first _(though I may well put both of these ideas in the story).

The first idea is a merchant caravan of non-ninjas (obviously) and the second is a four-person group of siblings (also non-ninjas). I can't really give more than that and keep the surprises I have (for both, because I planned most of both scenarios out already) a secret.

I'm sorry for the incredibly long Author's Note. I know it tacked on another 230 words onto this chapter, but I really do need input for this one. Thank you in advance!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter. I see the most changes in the chapter than in any other, especially since the storyline is now my own.

(----------)

**Chapter 4: The Awakened**

"_Some people say they haven't yet found themselves. But the self is not something one finds; it is something one creates."_

-Thomas Szasz

(----------)

Hinata shrieked in pain as she was slapped away for the 3rd time. The blue-haired girl directed her fearful eyes toward her opponent, as well as the caravan that was now trapped beneath the shield of a million volts; a cage made of pure lightning. Worried and angry eyes faced back at her; the eyes of her companions in Team 8, her team's sensei, and the majority of Team 7. She cringed at the hatred she saw.

Ripping her eyes away and looking to her left, she saw the conscious body of Naruto; a boy she had seen since her days in the academy. She was up against another ninja while she was still fresh out of the academy, and no one could help her.

Gulping slightly, she stood shakily once more, taking up a stance that she was familiar with. She charged some of her chakra into her eyes, making the veins around them bulge and a pulse of energy burst forth from them.

"Byakugan (White Eye)," Hinata muttered as her family's pride; her bloodline. She peered unconsciously toward the prone body of her blonde-haired comrade slightly behind her and glared heavily toward her foe.

She then charged chakra into her hands and rushed forward toward the turned back of the ninja wearing a headband with the imprint of Clouds upon it; her eyes shining with her frustration and her steadfast desire to save her teammates.

And she was knocked away once more; this time with the same lightning technique that struck down Naruto.

(----------)

At this point, Naruto and the rest of his companions were at least a fourth of the way to completing their mission. A couple days has passed since the mission's beginning, but those days built up to the battle that was currently taking place. You see, it all started that one day Naruto got pissed off from the overabundance of the boring D-Rank missions that were burning a large, gaping hole into Naruto's patience.

For, what the Hokage gave them was not an ordinary mission.

"_You mission is to protect a certain group of individuals," _he said with a smirk.

Naruto characteristically excitedly asked who they were to protect. _"Who is it?!" _he asked, _"Is it a Feudal Lord? A princess?" _

Chuckling softly, the Hokage only handed Kakashi a scroll and stated that they were to be at the northern gates in 3 hours with provisions and supplies needed for at least 2 weeks.

"_Oh, and by the way," _the Hokage said as the Team was exiting the room, _"Another team will be accompanying you. They'll meet you at the gate."_

Naruto reacted as simple as you can guess it. He simply protested that, _"There's no way that the mission would require two teams, especially with a ninja like me!"_

Obviously, that didn't go very well with Iruka; still there for the day to help with the mission.

"_The group that is to be protected is far too large for one group to handle! And, it's __**especially **__because of ninja like you that we have to assign another team!" _Iruka yelled.

Naruto only pulled an annoyed face and departed quickly.

At the gate at 15 minutes before the appointed time, Naruto walked slowly, yet with an excited air about him. He knew that he would finally be able to do something _useful _for once, but he also knew that he needed to save his energy for the day's trip.

He stretched out his arms to the air and let the feeling of anticipation fuel his excitement. Dropping them back to his side, he let out a great breath. A little bit of time passed with no others appearing in the distance, but Naruto needed not wait any longer. From the way he came, there was a trio of people his age coming towards the gate, all toting a backpack which was bound to contain materials for the mission that they were about to do.

The first person was a boy dressed in a slate-colored, high-collared jacket; obscuring the lower portion of his face. His ninja pants were standard issue and of the usual brown color. Keeping his hands in his pockets, this boy looked forward; gazing through his sunglasses.

The second person was another boy dressed in a dark ash-gray hooded jacket and the standard issue pants. On his face was red paint markings that came from who knows where and on his head, atop his hood, there was a small white puppy. He gained a slight annoyed expression when he spotted Naruto near the gate.

The final person was a girl. Like the others, she was dressed in a jacket of her own; this one of a cream-colored variety. Upon the hooded jacket were two matching symbols on each of the sides of a yellow circle with a red spiral-like flame design. She was wearing the standard issue pants, but she was wearing the blue variety instead of the usual brown. Upon seeing Naruto, she began to look downward to the dirt path in front of her; attempting to be invisible.

As they drew near, the boy with the dog spoke first.

"Damn, we were told that a team was going to be helping us out on the mission, but I had no idea it was going to be _your _team!" the boy said loudly and with a distinct scoff. Naruto rolled his eyes and responded with a remark of his own.

"Oh boy, I never thought I'd be working with the _"dog-boy"_. Seriously, Kiba, you think I _want _to work with someone who smells like dog crap?"

"Why you little…" Kiba called; shaking his fist in Naruto's face. The puppy (named Akamaru) began barking loudly at the orange ninja. Both human boys carried an expression that seemed to convey more annoyance by the second.

Naturally, an argument broke out. Shino only shook his head softly as Hinata tried to get Kiba to calm down. She glanced over at Naruto, who grew tired of the argument quickly and turned away, still heavily miffed. Hinata watched Naruto walk away as Kiba continued to mutter curses underneath his breath. She scrunched her lips in slight curiosity as she saw Naruto conversing with his teammates, who had shown up soon after they did.

Naruto said something. Sasuke said something back. Naruto looked annoyed and started talking loudly in response. Sakura turns and bashes Naruto over the head from her position next to Sasuke.

Hinata feels a sweat drop form on the back of her head as Naruto rubbed his bump delicately.

(----------)

Two people arrived moments later; a young lady that looked around 15 and a man towing a modified, medium-sized rickshaw, accompanied by Kurenai, the jônin sensei for Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.

"So, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba started, "Are we going to protect this cart?" The taller, red-eyed woman opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by another voice.

"Well, I do hope so," the tall man said, grabbing a clipboard from the front of the rickshaw. There were 3 other people aboard, but no one got a good look. He narrowed his eyes through his glasses and scribbled something down on the clipboard as he looked at each of the genin present. "So, is this it? From what I can tell, these people couldn't ward off an amateur pickpocket, much less a bandit." The girl next to the rickshaw chuckled, peering into the cart slightly, as if checking on something.

Well, needless to say, that struck a nerve. Kiba merely growled as Sasuke glared. Hinata looked down in shame as Sakura narrowed her eyes. Shino was the only one that looked emotionless toward the remark. Naruto, however…

"What was that, you bastard?!" he yelled as he stormed up to the man, "I'm going to be the greatest ninja in the world someday! There's NO WAY that I'll let someone like YOU give me crap like that!"

The man in glasses looked down at the short boy in front of him. The glare off the glasses from his eyes hid the sight of his eyes from view. He smirked somewhat and looked towards Kurenai.

"He's the weakest one of them all, am I right?"

He had to be held back by Kurenai and "subdued" by Sakura as he tried to ravage the man. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Shino raised an eyebrow while Kiba laughed heartily. Hinata was looking at Naruto with a smile, but did nothing.

Screams of, "I'll kill you, bastard!" were carried into the village before a deafening crack was heard as Sakura's hand made contact with Naruto's head. The only thing more annoying than Naruto's cursing grumbles after that was the fact that Kakashi arrived about 2 HOURS later; much to the annoyance of everyone present.

(----------)

"And so, your task is simple. We wish to return home to our merchant's village between Fire Country and Earth Country," the tall man said as he towed the rickshaw behind him, "We are merely budding merchants, so our only worries lie in the form of bandits. That's where you all come in."

"So, all we have to do is defend you and your daughter from bandits?" Kiba asked.

The man looked at him sternly, "Yes, that's correct. Yet, I would also prefer to have my merchandise intact upon our arrival home as well."

And so, the group walked in silence for a while. The little girl occasionally went back to "check on the merchandise", as she put it, but she was usually around the front, babbling on and on about how great it is to travel around to her father.

The ninjas were positioned around the rickshaw; the two jônin in the front, Sakura and Sasuke on the right, Kiba and Shino on the left, and Naruto and Hinata bringing up the rear. Naruto continued babbling to no end, attempting to gain Sakura's attention in any way. Hinata only stared on, curiosity shining in her pale lavender orbs.

And a shout suddenly came from Kakashi and Kurenai. Sakura screamed as Kiba growled angrily. Sasuke was readying a fireball attack by performing his seals as a loud buzzing started from Shino's direction.

Hinata gasped as the veins around her eyes bulged outward and looked through the covered rickshaw in front of her. She began to speak in fragments.

"Kurenai-sensei…Kakashi-sensei…dead…" she gasped. Naruto saw Sasuke rushing forward to incinerate the enemies in front of him as he heard the snarls of Kiba attacking forward. Naruto continued to look around distraught and unable to come up with anything he could do.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hinata's eyes narrow slightly. Naruto turned just in time to see her swirl around and charge behind him. His eyes followed her as she ran and thrust her palm into the chest of an armored person. The sword he was carrying dropped to the ground, clattering noisily as Hinata moved to the next person.

Naruto suddenly found himself surrounded by people on all sides as he felt a sharp pain on his right arm. There were at least 15 of them. Their steel weapons gleamed in the afternoon sun as Naruto dropped into a battle stance; the adrenaline in his body temporarily numbing the pain of his torn shoulder. He simply made a cross-shaped seal and shouted out…

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!!!"

The area around Naruto was filled with smoke as the attackers found themselves being pushed back by a seemingly invisible force. As the smoke cleared, the attackers all saw that they were now outnumbered 5 to one by clones. The original Naruto, standing in the center, smirked as he started to perform seals.

As he did so, the shock of the clones' appearances wore off as the armored people began to attack; slicing their swords through the clones, leaving a puff of smoke in its wake. The Naruto clones moved to attack, punching and kicking wildly.

As one particular attacker struck the last clone blocking his way, the momentary cloud of smoke blinded his view. This particular attacker was the only one out of the bunch that had real blood on his sword. Coincidence or not, the attacker was still momentarily sightless due to the puff of smoke. But, it was more than enough.

"Kire (Cut)!" the attacker heard from in front of him. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing his new threat.

Naruto had summoned a vertical blade of air that was currently rushing towards this particular attacker. He lifted his sword to block, and he wasn't disappointed when he felt the distinct feel of a different blade pressing against his own.

However, he wasn't expecting Naruto to jump from behind the blade to cut his right arm with a kunai. The attacker felt his grip loosen as the wind blade in front of him seemed to push harder. Naruto moved away from the attacker to swiftly move between his clones to slash the arms of the attacking people in front of him. An eye for an eye, so to speak.

Naruto smirked as he did his deed, establishing payback to everyone there. Some dropped their swords in shock, allowing the remaining clones to knock them out. Some were forced to attempt to parry the attacks of the shadow clones before they overwhelmed them. Naruto, satisfied, only stopped to watch as his clones finished his work.

And, the poor attacker that was met with the original wind blade was net with a very sharp pain as his left forearm suffered a gash that revealed the bone underneath.

(----------)

Minutes later, the horde of armored people were reduced to three. Two of them were captured by Kakashi and Kurenai soon after their "death" (they escaped using Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique)) and the third was the man who was unfortunate enough to nearly lose his hand due to Naruto's wind blade. The rest had fled soon after the tide of the battle was turning out of their favor. Kakashi was currently interrogating them as they comfortably sat…tied to a nearby tree. The man who had suffered the wrath of wind whimpered weakly.

All the genin were stationed once again around the rickshaw, watching as their sensei leaked out information. Naruto was nursing his wound, cleaning it off via a rag that was given to him by Kurenai-sensei. He looked at it as he cleaned it and saw something unusual.

There was hot steam rising from the wound. The dried blood flaked off around the wound and the wound itself sealed shut; as if there were invisible strands stitching up the break in the skin. Cocking his head to the side ever so slightly, Naruto curiously watched as the wound fully closed. He raised an eyebrow as he saw that there was nothing to indicate that the wound was ever there aside from the remaining flakes of dried blood and the distinct, slightly blood saturated rip in his upper arm where the wound was.

Thinking back, Naruto had always healed quickly. Whenever he scraped his knee or got a scratch, it was always gone within a couple days. The only exception to that was…

Naruto's eyes widened after his thoughts traveled to the topic. If one were able to convince Naruto to remove his orange jacket and black shirt (which was _highly _unlikely), they'd discover that his back was covered in scars; scars that revealed evidence of burns of long ago. The scars have begun to fade, but they were still there. Naruto could feel the pain of _that day_, but he couldn't remember what happened. It was something big, but…

"Uzumaki-san, are you okay?" a voice asked, throwing Naruto out of his thoughts quite nicely. He turned and saw the same lavender-eyed girl that was walking beside him earlier. He _was _going to ask what she was doing next to him, but he then remembered that this was her post as well.

"Never better!" Naruto responded cheerfully. He held a grin steadily as he tried to quell the nervousness inside of him; the nervousness that spawned when he noticed that he couldn't remember…

The girl in front of him cocked her head ever so slightly, but Naruto didn't seem to notice it. "Are you sure?" she asked, peering towards the rip in his shirt. This time, Naruto _did _detect this motion and moved to cover his "wound" with his hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I just need to wrap this up, that's all!" Naruto said loudly; massaging the area unconsciously.

"Do you need help?" Hinata asked kindly, holding up her first-aid kit with a small smile and looking perplexedly towards the wound.

"No, no; I'm fine! I can do it myself," Naruto said, his voice slightly shaking in anxiety towards the possible revelation of his inhuman healing. If there was one thing he didn't want to do at this point, it was calling attention to himself because of some strange phenomenon. Sure, he loved to call attention to himself by using his prowess as a ninja, but he didn't want to have people ask questions because of his "newfound ability".

"Okay," Hinata seemed to say reluctantly; her eyes shining with unsaid questions as she held out the small white box towards Naruto, "you can borrow this for a moment, then."

Naruto reached out with his right hand and took the box gently before scampering off hastily to wrap his wound away from prying eyes. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about Hinata that made him really uneasy; something in her eyes that told Naruto that she was someone to be wary of...

But, more importantly, if there was something that happened the day he got the scars on his back, why can't he remember?

(----------)

"Those people were mercenaries. They don't attack travelers unless they are paid to do so."

Kakashi's voice traveled eerily around the campsite. They were about a quarter of the way to the Fire/Earth border and they've stopped for the night, but that doesn't mean that they were just going to forget what happened earlier that day. Currently, the 8 ninjas, as well as the duo of merchants were surrounded around a campfire. The ninjas sat on the ground while the merchants opted to sit on a fallen log.

"So now, I'd like to ask our _employers _why there would be mercenaries after a pair of _budding _merchants," Kakashi said, looking around the campsite, as if looking for an objection. He looked over to the tall man sitting on a log close to the rickshaw, "Satoshi, I'd like to know this before we continue. I _must _know what my students will be up against," Kakashi seemed to direct his gaze toward the rickshaw beside Satoshi instead of Satoshi himself.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The campfire cast a glare, obscuring his eyes. "Very well," he said before facing the rickshaw and the girl behind it, "Suzu-chan," he called, referring to the amber-haired girl, who turned away from the open back of the rickshaw, "Tell Kiyo-kun to come out here, please." Eyes widened at the usage of honorifics…he was awfully insulting for a polite man. But, then again, it was only logical that he would be nice to his own children…

A wave of confusion washed over the campsite as Suzu shot a perplexed look towards Satoshi, as if saying, "Are you sure?" Satoshi nodded as if the question was said aloud. Suzu seemed to shrug in response; moving to the open end of the rickshaw and reaching in. This exchange was heard in the near-silent clearing seconds after.

"C'mon, Kiyo-chan. Daddy's calling you," Suzu said, reluctance and a slightly commanding tone fusing in her voice.

"W-what? D-didn't he tell me to stay in the cart?" a childish voice said in response.

"Yeah, he did. But, he's telling you _now _to get out," Suzu said.

"B-b-but," the child's voice protested weakly as Suzu led him out of the cart by his hand. A small boy emerged from the back of the cart. He was a small boy dressed simply in a black shirt and blue pants. A green blanket wrapped around his shoulders and dragged along the ground as he continued to protest his emergence.

Suzu lifted the small boy up (he was only as tall as her stomach) and placed him next to Satoshi.

"Daddy, what's this about?" he asked meekly, tightening his grip on his blanket from the inside.

Satoshi looked down towards the boy and spoke simply, but with a slightly caring tone that Naruto hadn't heard from him since they left.

"Well, we ran into a little trouble earlier today and I can't keep you a secret from our bodyguards anymore. Do you understand?"

The little boy looked around the campsite and became uneasy as he looked at the many faces surrounding him. The faces of the genin seemed to still hold traces of confusion…but Hinata did not seem to be surprised. Maybe she saw him when she looked through the rickshaw earlier…

Anyway…it was a fairly short, yet very informative talk. The "bad guys" were after Kiyo for some reason (Kiyo did _not _want to specify; Satoshi said it wouldn't affect anything if they did know). Satoshi told him to stay in the rickshaw to stay hidden, but it obviously didn't work. Now, the entire squad of ninja would have to work a bit harder to keep the kid protected. And now, the last question that needed to be answered.

"Okay then, who the hell's after us?" Kiba asked bluntly as he eyed over the little boy in the green blanket. Kiyo looked confusedly up to his father and Satoshi shot Kiba a piercing glare for some reason. Satoshi seemed to speak in a seething voice afterward, sending chills down Kiba's spine.

"We don't know. We've only been able to run away from the mercenaries before this," Satoshi said; his piercing glare scaring Akamaru deeper into Kiba's coat. Kiba looked away, though his eyes nervously remained locked with Satoshi's. "And," Satoshi continued, "Please do refrain from using such language in the presence of my child."

All the other people in the clearing felt a sweat drop form on the backs of their heads.

Everyone, of course, except Naruto; he was looking like he was paying attention by looking at the little boy and then to Satoshi, but it was a dead giveaway when he wasn't sent into a small fit of chills from Satoshi's frigid glare. And, the first person to notice was…

"Uzumaki-san, are you okay?" came the same, quiet voice from earlier. The girl looked curiously at her comrade and cocked her head to the side…once again. She opened her mouth to begin to speak again when…

A small black streak shot into the campfire in the center of the group. Kakashi's eyes widened as he moved to shield the two closest to him; Sakura and Sasuke. Kurenai dove down to the ground away from the campfire taking Kiba and Shino, the two people closest to her, down with her. Satoshi threw his arms around Kiyo and let his body fall backwards taking Kiyo with him and quickly rolling them both underneath the rickshaw. Hinata shielded her face, activating the Byakugan out of reflex.

And Naruto snapped out of his reverie and narrowed his eyes in anger just as the campfire exploded in a mass of hot, thick smoke.

"There are people here! Be on your guard!" Naruto heard Kakashi scream. He heard, but he was too busy trying to breathe to register it in his mind. The first thing on his mind was the first thing he acted upon.

_Wind…_

He quickly placed his hands together in a hand seal that had become very familiar to him in the past few weeks. He couldn't see his hands through the smoke, but the shape of the seal allowed him to call forth one of his techniques; one that would prove to be very useful in this situation.

But it wasn't shaped like a cross. And the technique he called didn't have the people present see multiples of orange-donning doppelgangers.

"Ninpô: Toppû no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Sudden Gust Technique)!" he shouted, disassembling the seal and thrusting his arms to his sides. The smoke cleared instantly from in front of Naruto; the black gas being carried away with the wind that was instantly created by Naruto's hands. A slight moment later, a blue-haired girl emerged from the smoke. Naruto looked in her direction and opened his mouth to call out, but he was interrupted by something somewhat painful.

It was a foot; traveling up from his stomach to a man that looked smug, a man that was obviously one of many who had invaded the camp; a metal band adorned with cloud-like ovals hanging from his neck; his black hair dropped into a style not unlike Mizuki's.

And Naruto was kicked away and sent into another clearing. Hinata, seeing this, gave chase to the ninja. Naruto coughed in pain as the breath was knocked out of him. He landed roughly on the ground, but quickly stood and quickly dodged to the side to avoid another kick to the abdomen.

"What's your problem?!" Naruto shouted as he dodged a particularly harsh flying kick. The man dug his hand into the ground as he fell and caught Naruto off guard with a sweep kick. Naruto grit his teeth as he fell once again, getting greatly annoyed.

The man looked down at Naruto with a smirk, "I don't really have a problem; I'm just doing my job."

Naruto growled as he tensed his muscles in an attempt to quickly stand and attack. He narrowed his eyes as the man performed 5 seals in a speed that was too fast to distinguish one from the next. He outstretched his palm and continued to look down.

"I don't think you want me to use this," the man said as he outstretched his palm toward Naruto. The hand was surrounded by yellow sparks that seemed to grow by the second. The man's eyes narrowed, "Just stay put and I won't have to."

Naruto clenched his hand in the dirt, digging down and clutching a handful of the loose soil. He dug the toe of his foot into the soil behind him in an effort to gain at least a little footing for what he was about to do. The man, still watching, noticed the slight movements of his foot.

"Ah, that's quite daring; little boy," he started; the electricity around his palm growing rapid, "but, you were warned." The man moved to fire; his palm shining bright from the electricity around it. And, just when he was about to shoot off the electricity, something came in the form of a blue and gray streak. At least, that's what Naruto saw.

Hinata thrust forward into the man, landing a harsh palm strike to his left side. As he let out a grunt of discomfort, he smacked her away with his left; still raising his right in an attempt to attack Naruto.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He pushed up from the ground quickly and threw the dust in the man's eyes. The man yelled out in annoyance as he brought his hand towards the ground in front of him and fired off the technique.

"Raiton: Shôgeki (Lightning Release: Impact)!" he called as a yellow flash created a blast on the ground. A cloud of dust consumed the three of them. Lost in the cloud, Hinata was knocked away once more by a kick. She heard the distinct crackle of lightning from in front of her as the man called out the name of the attack once again.

"Shôgeki (Impact)!" he called out. In the midst of the cloud of dust, she heard rushed footsteps and the sizzling crackle of lightning. She shut her eyes, ready to take to force of the blow. She heard the bang of the technique's completion, but she didn't feel the shock. She opened her eyes…

…just in time to see Naruto fall to the ground, unconscious.

(----------)

A blonde boy dropped onto the ground; the water upon it splashing upward from the new weight. The light shone from the top of the room, but only targeted the area around Naruto's body. The body being face-up, Naruto's unconscious expression was aimed high into the top of wherever he was; straight into the light.

A figure began to approach from the distance. He could not be seen, but the sound of his splashing footsteps rebounded about the room. As he drew near, the footsteps became louder, but Naruto did not rouse from his state of incapacitation.

The figure stopped next to Naruto; his body barely in view; a black cloak wrapped around it. A faint outline of a tall man looked down at Naruto's body; examining it closely. It lifted its left hand to push up something on the bridge of its nose. The man's glasses reflected the light of the reflection from the water; obscuring his eyes. A tanned hand dropped towards the body as the man knelt down; his short, blonde hair coming into view, combed down to his head. He picked up Naruto's limp hand and examined it; chuckling at the resemblance of the skin color.

Standing upright once more, the man continued to chuckle softly.

"Very well," he said in a harder version of Naruto's own voice, "_I _shall take care of this."

(----------)

The Cloud ninja chuckled softly as he walked away; leaving the two seemingly unconscious people lying in the dust behind him. The rising dust prevented him from making sure, but incapacitation was more efficient than killing; less to clean up.

And then, a sound started to come forth from the cloud of smoke. It started as a low sigh and grew ever louder by the moment. It rose to a loud sigh, then to an elongated cry, and finally to a full-fledged scream. The sound suddenly spiked as a large chakra force was felt from the dust cloud.

And then, from the smoky mass that was Hinata's initial landing place, she burst forth; her eyes shining with her focused rage. Her scream echoed through the clearing as she charged forward; her open hands wrapped in a slight white aura. The man from Cloud turned just in time to have Hinata aim a palm strike at his chest. He managed a block with his forearm, but it grew numb and fell limp to his side. With his other arm, he struck her away as she tried to recover and attack again.

"You little cretin! Just let me finish my job and I won't have to hurt you any further!"

Hinata stood once more. Her eyes were hidden by her tilted head, but everyone was certain that they still shone with the Byakugan active.

"I apologize," Hinata said softly as she stood slowly, "But, the act of you finishing your job requires that I fail mine." She crouched down low, her fingertips lightly tapping the ground in front of her; her head still remaining out of view.

"And so," she started once more, "for the sake of my mission, I _cannot allow you to complete yours._"

Her eyes faced towards the mass of people before her, shining with a newfound determination.

Digging her sandals into the dirt underneath her; Hinata pounded the earth with her fist, giving her the push she needed to move slightly faster than she did before. She drew her right arm back as her left hand came up in front of her face. She charged forward as her open hands shone a bright blue; surrounded by the aura of her focused chakra. And the speed boost was all she needed as she made impact with the man's stomach.

The man reared back in pain as Hinata continued to press onward. She struck his open leg; causing him to jump back again. Resolutely, she drew forward once more, aiming for the left side of the chest when the man raised his right arm again.

"Damn you," is what she heard as she was thrown away by a violent shockwave of lightning. She roughly landed on the ground; her eyes barely opened as the man performed a set of seals once again.

"And now, to finish this," he said, extending his palm again; the yellow lightning crackling loudly in the otherwise silent clearing. He narrowed his eyes and moved to fire when…

An orange silhouette jumped out from behind Hinata. It moved toward the man and jumped just as he released the lightning. The silhouette fell and grasped the man's right hand with its own just as the lightning began to release. Then, while still airborne, he placed his other hand over the target of Hinata's failed attack; the man's heart.

There was a deafening "BANG" a moment later and the man was sent flying away from Hinata's position. The silhouette landed somewhat roughly on the ground in front of her as yellow sparks continued to move around it. Its hands were slightly blacked by the maneuver. The back of an orange jacket was all the information Hinata needed as the dust around the wearer drew up into a cloud around him.

(**----------**)

It was bright. Naruto opened his eyes to find himself peering into a blinding light. That was the first thing he noticed. The second was the fact that he was laying on wet ground. Propping himself up by his arms, he sat up and took a look around. Furrowing his eyes, he swept his head from side to side. This place seemed familiar, but so foreign at the same time. As he looked about, he noticed something.

It was dark, except for the spot he was sitting on.

Standing, he decided to move around the room. He narrowed his eyes as he moved; noting that the light was following him. Drawing in a breath, he called out to the darkness.

"Now, _where_ the _**hell **_am I?!"

(----------)

And then, a cold voice arose from the rising cloud of dust. The man clutched his chest, still recovering from being hit by his own attack.

"You underestimate us far too much," Naruto said calmly and chillingly as he stood shakily, yet steadily out of the smoking ground around him.

The silhouette began to move forward; out of the dust cloud that was created just moments ago. As he walked, the air began to twist into a gust, beginning to blow away the cloud of smoke. Its "arms" moved upwards towards its "chest" as the figure awkwardly moved forward. As the silhouette emerged from the cloud, the first thing they saw was Naruto's eyes.

It was a sudden chill, a frosty sheet that seemed to abruptly burst from an area behind Naruto. Naruto's normally determined sapphire eyes a now darker and colder color. It was now as if the people present were looking straight into the deepest depths of the sea. They were all that his opponent could focus on.

Deathly chills aside, Naruto's movements were sloppy as he walked forward. He stepped irregularly; one step being either significantly bigger or smaller than the last. His seared hands, currently in the ninja seal known as the rat; his right hand's fingers wrapped around the outstretched index and middle fingers of his left, were moving and changing in position with each step.

One step; his hands moved choppily to the ninja seal known as the tiger, his ring and pinky fingers interweaving while his outstretched index and middle fingers lightly touched on the tips.

Two steps; his hands moved once again, this time to the seal known as the ram; his left hand's ring finger and pinky hooked over the crook between his right hand's folded ring finger and its outstretched middle finger. His left hand's index and middle towered over that of the right hand.

He kept his right hand in position as he lifted his left hand over his right shoulder. His fingers clenched slightly; small gaps appearing in between, as if holding a set of shuriken. As he continued to walk, the air around Naruto began to become slightly turbulent.

"Fûjin Yaiba (Wind God Blade)," Naruto said coldly, freezing his opponents with his blizzard-like stare, "Chire (Scatter)," Naruto said soon after; moving his left hand across his chest and outward towards his left side as his legs suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

The wind in front of Naruto seemed to shift; his image temporarily distorting in the eyes of his enemy. The wall of wind in front of Naruto seemed to crack slightly, distorting his image even further. The wall of wind shattered; yielding a cracked, white barrier. The shards of the broken wall remained in one piece.

A burst of wind blasted the shards away a moment later, scattering them and leaving them in the mercy of the swirling air. Naruto became visible as the shards disappeared from sight.

Smirking, Naruto's opponent spoke; his rough, raspy laugh echoing through the clearing.

"Was that it?!" he asked between laughs, "Moron, you should have attacked when you had the chance!" he yelled as he drew a kunai out from his side.

Naruto only continued to smirk, his left hand slowly moving to his face.

"I have," Naruto said in a voice that seemed to slash through the calming air around him. "It should be taking effect," Naruto said as he moved his left hand up to the bridge of his nose, "right…about…"

Naruto moved his right hand up and underneath the bent elbow of his left arm. His left hand pushed up the bridge of his nose, as if pushing up a pair of glasses…

"Now," Naruto finished, punctuating the statement with his eyes.

The wind around him picked up once more. Naruto seemed unfazed as needles of air began to appear and shoot forward, past Naruto and toward his opponent.

Frozen in terror, the person opposing Naruto could only rear back and attempt to shield himself with his weapon as he was met with a miniature hail of needle-like blades of wind. Each needle that didn't pass him evaded his arm and kunai and landed on his flesh; each of the blades piercing through his flesh like a bullet.

"By thinking of me as a lowly opponent, you have made a grave mistake," Naruto said, his cold, yet searing voice sailing through the air, "but, my job is done."

At that, the winds stopped and all was calm.

As Naruto fell forward on his knees, exhausted, all eyes were on him; and that included the curious, yet worried, lavender eyes of a certain girl.

"_It seems…I have not gotten accustomed to the usage of this body quite yet…"_ Naruto thought as he surveyed his slightly burnt, yet already healing hands.

(----------)

A/N: I know I'm being vague about what the hell just happened. That's what I'm trying to do (laughs evilly).

Now, just so you know, I won't be putting up long Author's Notes. It's not really something I like to do if I can help it. So, instead…I put them on my profile! On there, I put the status of my writing as well as the issues that come up that may hinder my writing a little bit.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Hmm, I'm not quite sure how to say that I don't own Naruto, but…oh wait, I just did! Awesome!

A/N: Man, it feels really good when you make up your own story for once! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh, and by the way, for everyone who bothers to read this, pay attention to the title and quote this time around.

(----------)

**Chapter 5: The Scars**

_"It is sad how one dark moment can live forever burned in the back of ones mind."_

-Anonymous

(----------)

The man ran away.

Unfortunately, neither Naruto nor Hinata were in the condition to give chase to him. Hinata struggled to lift her body off the ground and Naruto was temporarily paralyzed with exhaustion. And so, there were helpless as the man turned tail and ran away; clutching his limp arm with his bleeding, yet able one and limping away on his one able leg. Obviously, Naruto's attack did a large number on his already injured condition due to Hinata's onslaught.

As he disappeared into the forest, they heard the distinct mutter of the man.

"I'll be sure to get you back for this…"

The quick streaks of traveling ninja were seen moments later; one of which picked up the injured man and took off.

Naruto's eyes seemed to turn fiery as he could only watch the man fade into the distance while still retaining the chill. Hinata looked down onto the ground she lay upon in shame; clenching her hand tightly around a fistful of dirt. Both sets of eyes seemed to convey the same message, and, despite the differences in reaction, conveyed the same amount of anger and frustration.

"_I should have __**taken him DOWN.**__"_

The sun rose after what seemed like a half-hour; the witness that was the night sky giving way to the sunrise. Naruto struggled to stand up once more, but managed. Naruto knelt down in front of Hinata and asked a simple question, his face toting a small smile.

"Need a lift, Hinata?"

(----------)

In the recently attacked campsite, smoke filled the air. The black fog that exploded from the campfire had long faded away; leaving only the scorched ground around the campfire as evidence. The smoke that now filled the area was the lighter smoke; the smoke that only was present in smell, not sight; the smoke that came from lightning strikes and misfired flames.

The six ninja watched as their opponents fled. Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he moved to jump up into the trees.

"Kakashi!" Kurenai called, "We're in no condition to fight them now." She looked sadly toward the four genin who now looked exhausted, especially Sasuke and Kiba; the two who had done most of the fighting. And, though Shino didn't show it as much, he was tired as well. Sakura, being absolutely powerless against the higher-level ninja, was the only one who could stand steadily.

Kakashi stopped and looked towards the genin. His eyes softened as he looked in their direction, but he still let out a sigh of aggravation.

"Furthermore," he heard Kurenai continue, "We're missing two of our own."

Kakashi's eyes widened at that. He began to look around once again. He was about to jump off in search of them, but he was stopped by another voice.

"Don't bother looking for us. We're already here."

Both jônin shot their gaze over to the source; a small passage between an irregular line of trees. There stood Naruto, carrying a barely conscious Hinata as he stumbled toward the campsite. Kurenai gasped and rushed toward him, plucking Hinata's body off of Naruto's back and drawing put a small jar from the interior of her jacket. She called Shino over a moment later to aid her in her first-aid procedures. Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

And Kiba, finding a spring of energy from somewhere, rushed up to Naruto and grabbed him by the collar. Naruto seemed shocked at the boy's actions, but he was to get an explanation shortly.

"What the hell happened to Hinata?!" he asked angrily, "Why didn't you defend her better?!" Naruto's eyes narrowed after this statement; his hand reaching up. He faced his palm towards Kiba's face.

"You see this?" Naruto asked, referring to his charred hand.

Kiba shot a glance toward the hand and raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked back to Naruto. "Yeah; what of it?" Kiba asked, still annoyed at the injuries sustained by Hinata.

Naruto seemed to ignore the question as he dropped his hand and moved to call his attention to his clothes. "You see my clothes?" Naruto asked. Kiba looked questioningly at them and noticed that the normally bright orange jumpsuit that he expected was charred in some places and torn in others. The entire suit was covered in dust and the damage that his clothes had sustained was equal to or greater than the damage seemingly sustained by Hinata.

Kiba loosened his grip ever so slightly. His tone of voice seemed to soften a little as he responded. "Yeah, what's your point?" he asked as he looked back up to Naruto's face.

"My point is," Naruto started, "I've been fighting just as much as Hinata over there. And while I couldn't block _every last attack_, I did the very best I could." Naruto then looked toward Hinata and she looked back at him gratefully. "Hinata can tell you the same," Naruto said as he brought his hands up again. "Now," he started once again as his eyes narrowed further, "Get the hell off me!" he yelled as he then violently shoved Kiba off of his body; making him fall to the ground. Kiba's face conveyed an expression of annoyance and aggravation.

"And while I thank you for defending _my_ teammates while you were fighting, I would greatly appreciate it if you would not blame me for _your_ teammate's injuries," Naruto said as he stared down Kiba with the same eyes he shot the man he was fighting earlier. Kiba was now met with frosty sapphires that radiated anger at its coldest.

Naruto then turned away and limped over to the rickshaw, where he sat next to Sakura and shot her a grin. Sakura looked away and started to speak to a ruffled Sasuke about how cool he was during the battle. Naruto turned his attention to his wounds a moment later; taking up Hinata's first-aid kit; the one she had lent him earlier on. He silently wrapped his blackened hands with a bandage, covering up the burns on his skin.

He gave a small smile to left hand as he finished; the last section of hand revealing a small patch of the familiar tan skin amongst the field of charred, dead skin.

And so, he leaned back onto the rickshaw and shut his eyes as he let out a deep sigh of relief. He felt the faint breeze upon his skin as he took in a breath of the cool air.

"_It's certainly been a long time since I was able to get a breath of fresh air," _Naruto thought…

(----------)

"It's certainly been a long time since I was able to get a breath of fresh air…"

Naruto's head shot upwards toward the source of the little light that fell upon him. He narrowed his eyes and spoke to the voice, weird as it felt to the blonde-haired boy.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto called out somewhat calmly into the light above.

Naruto felt a slight difference in pressure in the darkness around him. It was like the darkness itself was shocked by his statement.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise. You can hear me now," the voice said the response.

Naruto shrugged with a touch of confusion in his features. "Yeah, why shouldn't I be able to?"

The pressure changed a little bit once again. Naruto felt that it was similar to a chuckle or a scoff. How he knew that, he didn't know, but it really didn't matter. The darkness's voice came once again.

"You haven't been able to hear me for about 7 years, now. Do you blame me for being surprised?"

Naruto sat down on the watery ground underneath the ring of light. He was tired for some reason; tired enough to not want to stand for much longer. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sat down because it would have been uncomfortable in wet clothes.

"I guess I can't," Naruto said a moment afterwards, "but I need to know something."

The chuckling pressure came once again. "Okay then, go ahead. Ask me," the voice said in response.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

The chuckling pressure suddenly grew more intense. It now felt like the darkness was heartily laughing at that question.

"That has got to be the stupidest question I've ever heard," Naruto hears from the black veil around him.

Naruto instantly jumped up out of his sitting position and began to shake a fist above him. "What the hell do you mean by that?!" he yelled indignantly.

The darkness's laughter seemed to calm down a considerable amount. The pressure around the dark room seemed to return to normal as the voice spoke again.

"Well, if you know what I know, then you'd realize the stupidity of your remark."

Naruto moved to yell again, but was interrupted by the voice once more.

"But, as an answer to your question…"

Naruto instantly halted. His question was going to be answered. He could overlook that stupidity comment if he knew what was going on, right?

"…I'm you."

Naruto's fist dropped to his side as his eyes attempted to enlarge to the size of dinner plates. His jaw dropped open and he went into a state of utter shock.

As he shook out of it (after a long moment of confusion), Naruto drew in a deep breath and yelled out to the "heavens"…

(----------)

"_**What the hell do you mean by that!!!!!!?" **_

Naruto shook his head as he heard the shout resonate within his mind. The shouts only continued; drowning Naruto's mind in an onslaught of questions ranging from the one basically shouted above (with variations involving cursing and volume "control") to, "How the hell can I get out of here so I can kick your ass from here to Water Country!?"

"_Too bad I can't screen out thoughts…" _Naruto thought with a deep sigh. Unfortunately, this only flared up the inner Naruto's rage towards the outer one.

"_I __**HEARD **__that, asswipe!" _the inner voice responded pointedly.

Naruto sighed again as he rolled his eyes. This was getting annoying.

"_Okay, you moronic cretin…if I answer your questions, will you __**stop shouting**__?" _Naruto thought calmly yet angrily.

A pause arose, giving the outer Naruto an opportunity for some appreciated silence. Luckily, the next response wasn't a head-spitting shout.

"_Yes."_

(----------)

"Good,"theone in the darkness said in response. Naruto waited impatiently for some reaction before he started to hear a rumble in front of him. From the water, just outside his ring of light, a wall rose slowly. The area behind it disappeared from view as the faded stone wall (as it looked like to Naruto) formed into a faded stone door. The voice called out to him once again.

"What I'm about to show you behind that door is set of memories. At the end of it is an excerpt of a horrific memory; one that brought immense pain to its original owner…and me as well. You will be unable to interfere with the events that occur, for you will be like a phantasm in that world; a ghost bearing silent witness to this memory. I could just tell you what happened, but if you want your questions to be answered; open the door and find out for yourself."

The voice was laced with a deep sorrowful sigh. Curiosity washed over Naruto as he wondered what would happen should he not want to witness such an event. Naruto looked straight towards the stone door. "And if I refuse?" he asked as curiosity got the better of him. The answer came immediately.

"Then the door will disappear and you'll have to find it somewhere in the darkness. My voice will be shut off from you, making it impossible for me to lend you aid."

Naruto only looked curiously towards the top. The voice seemed to feel this, as a response came shortly afterward.

"You won't be able to leave this place until you witness it. If you refuse now, it could be years before you find it again."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he processed what he heard. He let out a sigh of his own, letting his head drop towards the ground. Then, after a moment of preparation, he straightened his body and briskly walked forward towards the door…

…and opened it forcefully.

Silver lights enveloped him moments later.

(----------)

Outer Naruto felt a sharp tug near his heart. He looked towards his chest.

"_The door has been opened…" _he thought as the feeling vanished. He looked over his shoulder, as if looking towards his back.

Naruto then stood from his position and looked up towards the sky. He focused a thought down to his heart; towards certain scars which have just been reopened.

"_Godspeed, envoy of the light…"_

He continued to look up, a neutral expression on his face, unaware of the pair of recently opened lavender eyes staring towards him.

(----------)

"Godspeed, envoy of the light…"

A faded voice was the last he heard as the silver light vanished, revealing a park. More specifically, it was a medium-sized, children's sandbox in the center of this park, right next to a set of swings. In this sandbox, there was a small silhouette of a pointy-haired child playing. His laughter filled the air as the sand in front of him was slowly tempered by water to form into a rickety, yet proudly handmade sandcastle. The setting sun in the background glinted off of the shiny stones that decorated the roughly built model.

Naruto walked closer. The silhouette did not become clearer upon close inspection. But, as Naruto drew near, he could see the traces of a smile upon the silhouette's face, though the specific features were well hidden by the shadows.

He heard a small scream from the direction of the swings. The silhouette and Naruto both looked towards the scream, where there was a trio of boy, obviously older and all wielding small branches that were obviously broken off of a nearby tree. Naruto could not see any of their faces.

"Siege the castle!!!" one yelled with a hidden sneer beneath the voice. "Capture the _Evil King_!!!" another yelled soon after.

He didn't know why, but Naruto felt the urge to protect this boy's accomplishment. Maybe it was the joyful laughter that he heard as the castle drew closer to completion. Maybe it was the genuine smile of happiness that graced the silhouette's face as he added the final touch.

Maybe it was the expression of fear that the boy currently wore as his masterpiece was threatened.

Whatever it was, Naruto didn't see a reason to argue with that urge. He jumped between the silhouette and the trio of faceless boys as an attempt to create some sort of resistance. The silhouette stood similarly in front of his castle, ready to defend it.

The faceless boys were not deterred in the slightest. In fact, they continued running toward the silhouette at full speed, brandishing their sticks as swords. They continued running as Naruto drew his arms out to stop all three at once.

They didn't even notice. In fact, they ran** through** him.

Naruto turned to see the silhouette being turned and pushed into his own sandcastle. The boys then proceeded to hit the boy across the bock with the sticks; leaving slashes where the sharp points of the sticks etched across and punctures where the points stabbed down. And though the silhouette was still cloaked in shadow, the injuries that were sustained still bled. The boys then jabbed the stick swords down into the sand around the silhouette and ran off, laughing and screaming joyfully.

Naruto was left to stand in shock as the boy's "eyes" started to form unshed tears; the clear water standing out amongst the red blood and shadowy skin.

"H-hey," Naruto began as his shock began to wear off, "A-are you o-"

Naruto was cut off by another silver flash.

(----------)

Naruto felt another tug on his heart. An image flashed through his mind and he sighed deeply, recalling the very short, yet very painful instant. More accurately, it was the second memory of a series…the very series that is currently being shown to the "envoy of the light" as Naruto called him.

Hinata, sitting on the rear end of the rickshaw (she was conscious, yet still exhausted) noticed a slight chill of the air as Naruto let out a soft sigh.

"Uzumaki-san, are you okay?" the girl asked the boy the third time during this mission. Naruto seemed to jump slightly and look at Hinata strangely for a moment. Naruto smiled softly and responded just like the last time he was able to.

"Never better!" he shouted cheerfully sustaining the smile he wore. Hinata raised an eyebrow slightly. In response, Naruto raised an eyebrow of his own. "Is something wrong, Hinata-sa-?"

Naruto caught himself quickly. The whispered beginning of an honorific was forcefully sucked inward by Naruto. It was simple to ignore. And, as such, Naruto expected Hinata to not really notice it.

She smiled in response and looked at Naruto with a puzzled, yet amused expression. "No, nothing's wrong, Uzumaki-san. Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked humorously.

Naruto held his soft smile and looked at Hinata as he spoke. "Please, Hinata," he forced down another honorific here, "don't call me Uzumaki-san. It makes me feel awkward. Just call me Naruto."

Hinata's eyes widened at the remark. "Are you sure, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto held up a hand disapprovingly and wagged his left index finger left and right. "No, Hinata; it's Naruto."

"Naruto…san?" Hinata struggled, her politeness trying to meet Naruto's request in the middle.

"No, no, no," Naruto's humorously chiding voice said, "Na-ru-to."

"Naruto…kun?" Hinata asked, giving another go at a compromise between politeness and complete familiarity.

Naruto crossed his arms with a somewhat humorously pouting smile. "Close enough, I guess…" he said. His expression then turned back to the soft smile that he wore earlier and Hinata gave a slight giggle.

(----------)

If Hinata was feeling like doing anything right now, it was NOT giggling. If her years of curiously watching the little boy since the age of 8 had any indication as to her observation basis, she knew something was definitely off with Naruto, and she wants to know what it is.

In fact, if she felt like doing anything right now, it was to slam this "Naruto" into the dirt and demand to know where the real Naruto is.

Because, no one—NO ONE—changes from rude and unobservant to polite and wary in ONE DAY. If this was the real Naruto, he would have simply grinned and brushed off the initial question. Like last time…

This "Naruto" actually noticed her slightly raised eyebrow when the real Naruto didn't notice head tilting the last time.

This "Naruto" attempted to refer to her as "Hinata-SAN", an honorific that would convey a somewhat polite demeanor given the lack of hesitation between the name and honorific. The real "Naruto" would only refer to her by her given name or, if forced, be reluctant to use "-san" when referring to her.

This "Naruto" actually noticed the reference to his last name rather than his first and, as a result, attempted to request that she refer to him by his first name. The real Naruto would only notice after at least another 3 days.

Her conclusion was simple: something was up.

What she wanted to know: who is this new "Naruto"?

(----------)

As the silver flash subsided, Naruto found himself on a sparsely traveled road in Konoha. The street seemed to be decorated with many hanging ornaments of orange and red; with many hot-colored lanterns hanging overhead.

The same spiky-haired silhouette was walking in front of him; limping slightly and occasionally glancing toward his wounded back. The wounds seem to have healed, but the crusty blood was still evident on the silhouette's skin. The golden-crimson sky that indicated the setting sun behind him told him that it was still the same day; this event was just a little later than the incident at the park.

The boy walked down the road slowly, seemingly walking normally if one were to only glance at the boy. But, unfortunately, the people on the road seemed to sneer as the boy walked past, as if taunting the boy. And although Naruto could not see their faces, their expressions stated one thing.

They were immensely satisfied with his injuries.

Naruto drew closer to the boy and gave him a once over. He was sad; that was evident, but his injuries had mostly healed. Naruto drew in a breath to speak, but was interrupted by a conversation in front of him.

"I dare you to hit…" Naruto heard. Static filled his ears moments later, censoring the voice. As it departed, the statement continued, as if nothing had happened. "…with this!" The faceless teenage-looking man held up a glass bottle.

The silhouette seemed to straighten in fear. Naruto kept his eyes on it as he heard the next statement. It was another voice…another teen.

"It'll be my _pleasure_!"

The silhouette turned and began to run in the opposite direction. Naruto looked up to see the teenager run towards the silhouette, brandishing the bottle. Naruto's eyes widened as he followed the silhouette with his eyes. Time seemed to slow down as Naruto saw the shadowy figure trip and fall to the ground. Time reset just as the teen caught up to the figure; bashing the bottle down on its back.

And as time reset, the sound of shattering glass filled the air. Naruto felt a growing anger rise in him as he stormed over to the teenager holding the bottleneck of the glass bottle that was now in shards. He snuck a peek at the silhouette as it weakly stood and walked past the teenager. The teenager sneered and lashed out with his foot, making a glass shard dig deeper into the figure's back. Naruto looked around to see if he was the only one that had stopped to witness this spectacle. The people on the road had stopped and they were watching the scene unfold.

The figure walked out of the street, the broken glass shards still stuck in its back. The teen that dared the bottle-holding one to attack the figure was gave a hearty slap on the back in approval. The bottleneck dropped to the ground as the teens exchanged a high-five.

And the people around them? They were cheering and laughing joyfully.

Naruto's anger reached its peak as he drew back his fist and moved to slam it into the wide, grinning mouths of the teenagers.

He was interrupted once again by a flash of silver light.

(----------)

Hinata continued to ride in the back of the rickshaw for the rest of the uneventful day. As the sun set behind the horizon once more, the group of 9 were now a little over halfway out of Fire Country. But, she could hardly care at the moment. One of her comrades has been kidnapped and replaced by this imposter.

She shook her head slightly, disguising it as a simple ignorable sneeze. _"That hunch has not been confirmed, yet; innocent until proven guilty," _she thought, reprimanding herself.

She looked over at Naruto, who was currently aiding his team in setting up camp. Her team had done it the day before and every agreed that she needed the rest (unlike Naruto, who had more than enough stamina to last through the day). She narrowed her eyes internally without showing anything to indicate that she was suspecting something.

Hinata watched intently as a familiar scene unfolded. Naruto would accidentally screw up; Sasuke would snidely insult him; Naruto would loudly insult him back; then Sakura would come to bash Naruto over the head for being an idiot.

She couldn't help but notice as she watched. Naruto's actions, though similar to the exchange at the Konoha gates before they left, was…different somehow.

Hinata searched for a word to describe it as Naruto grumbled towards Sasuke while looking after Sakura as he normally did; like a love-struck fool. They finished off the tents as Kiba and Shino returned from their firewood assignment. She was approached by Kurenai for a moment to see if she felt any better. Hinata responded with a simple, "I feel much better now, thank you," followed by an apology as to her inactivity in the camp setup.

As she looked back over to an animatedly talking Naruto, attempting to get Sakura's attention once more, she finally was able to get the word that she wanted to use to describe Naruto's recent actions…

Subdued…

(----------)

As outer Naruto spoke to his team (especially Sakura), he felt another tug on his heart; this one being somewhat harder than the other two. The images of that particular incident flooded his mind, short as it was. The pain resurfaced as he cast a sideways thought as to the well-being of the "envoy of the light".

(----------)

The silver light faded once again; Naruto's fist still hanging in the space that contained the head of the bottle-wielding teen moments ago. He grumbled to himself as he looked around for the oddball out of the crowd; the only one fully encased in shadows. He noted that the sky was a darker crimson, indicating that the sun was about to fall beneath the horizon.

He quickly found him…standing in front of the Konoha hospital doors. The silhouette opened its mouth, but no sound emerged. Instead, words bubbled inside his mind; words that he somehow knew belonged to the silhouette.

"_C-can you please help me? I-I need to get these shards out of my back." _

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the white-garbed man within the hospital gave the silhouette an expression of disgust. His arms moved to his hips as he responded.

"And why should I help scum like you?"

The silhouette's face grew into an expression of sorrowful shock. Naruto, for some reason, felt immense sympathy towards the figure…and intense anger towards the man. Naruto started to emit killer intent, but the man did not seem to notice.

The man's face grew into a smirk. "I'm actually doing you a favor. Death is far too merciful for you."

The figure's face grew fearful as the man brought his hand up and snapped.

"Guards," he called, "get this vermin out of my sight."

Two large men appeared behind the man in white. They grasped the silhouette by the arms and threw him out into the street in front of Naruto. He was so close to the figure that he could see the glass shards embedded into his back dig deeper within the flesh.

Naruto's face drew into a grimace as he watched the figure turn and walk weakly away from the hospital. Naruto then stormed towards the hospital doors, performing the intricate patterns that were ninja seals. He moved his right hand across his body and prepared to wave it towards the trio of now laughing men.

"Fûjin Yaiba (Wind God Blade)…" Naruto started angrily.

And the silver light engulfed him once again.

(----------)

"_The one thing that will never change about Naruto is his smile," _Hinata thought as she lay in her sleeping bag that night. She lies awake in her bag, simply thinking about the potential imposter that was "Naruto". She envisioned his usual smile; a foxy grin that was deceptive in the case that it either expressed happiness or playfulness.

She looked over to the campfire and saw a blonde-haired boy poking the fire with a stick. He had volunteered for first watch. The embers flew out of the flame and into the starry sky above. Naruto followed the embers up to the air above as they disappeared into the night. And as the last ember disappeared, Naruto let out a great sigh.

Hinata's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed in curiosity. If she wanted to see if this was the real Naruto, the best time to do it is now, while they were virtually alone.

And so, she unzipped her bag slowly and crawled out. Standing slowly, she made her way towards the campfire.

(----------)

Naruto felt another, harsher tug on his heart. The images of the short, fourth event shone brightly in his mind soon after.

"_So, you've made it through 3 of them already, have you? You're doing well…" _Naruto thought as he prodded the fire once again, sent up another spray of embers.

"Uzumaki-san, are you okay?" Hinata's voice resounded as the jacketed, blue-haired girl walked toward the fire and took a seat next to him. Noting the acknowledgement method, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I thought we agreed it was going to be "Naruto-kun" now, Hinata-sa-" Naruto said, catching his near usage of an honorific once more. Hinata didn't seem to notice.

"Oh…sorry…Naruto-kun," Hinata said hesitantly; her head drooping down. Naruto gave her a soft smile as he responded.

"Now, now, it's quite all right, Hinata. Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Naruto said with a semi-scolding voice.

She looked up and smiled at Naruto, her eyes closed happily.

(----------)

Through her drooped hair, she watched Naruto's facial expression. Her eyes internally narrowed. She responded quickly and drew a small chuckle-laugh from Naruto. Conversation continued for a moment as she noticed Naruto catching his honorifics before they left his mouth, his polite speech, and his soft smile.

She gradually gave Naruto signs of her "sleepiness" before breaking out into a large yawn, which she promptly apologized for. Naruto gently suggested that she get some rest for tomorrow and she obliged, thanking Naruto for his time.

And as she walked back to her sleeping bag, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Naruto never did anything "gently".

That was not Naruto.

(----------)

The light subsided once more, allowing Naruto to see another place. In anger, he shut his eyes and released his wind technique on the nearest wall. The Chire attack blew through the wall, though the wall sustained no damage.

"Damn it!" he yelled to no one in particular. He opened his eyes and took a look around.

It was a small-looking room. There was a small door and papers posted over the walls. He would have looked to see what they were, but they were all colored pure black.

The door opened and the silhouette that he had been following walked in. It closed the door behind him and locked it with a click. The figure unzipped his "jacket" and moved to take it off, but stopped as a cringe suddenly appeared across his "face". Its "eyes" shut before taking off the jacket in one violent motion. The loose glass shards fell to the ground with numerous clinks as the figure let out a silent groan. The figure then dropped the black, ripped jacket to the ground

The figure then moved his hands towards his waist and gripped the bottom of his shirt. Its "eyes" shut again before he tugged the shirt over his shoulders, ripping out more glass shards. The ripped shirt then fell to the ground.

The figure then walked toward the broken full-body mirror and moved to pick out the remaining shards individually. Silent groans could be seen as the boy plucked each shard one by one.

Naruto walked closer to the boy, avoiding the shards on the floor and the discarded clothing. He reached for a shard in an attempt to help it remove the bringers of pain from his back, but his hand merely went through the shiny green shard. Naruto drew his hand back before the figure moved his hand to pluck out the shard, leaving a bleeding wound.

Naruto looked away and towards the wall covered in pieces of black paper. Whether they were drawings, awards, poems, or other pieces of art, he would not know.

But, one particularly large piece of paper caught his attention. The top half of the paper was empty, but the bottom half was covered in red markings. There were red X's through black squares outlined in faint gray lines. There was a red marker suspended by a string beside it.

"_This is a calendar," _Naruto thought as he looked to the end of the series of X's.

Atop the square next to the last X that was crossed out, there were two words printed in a childish scrawl.

"My Birthday"

Naruto heard footsteps moments later and saw the figure moving towards him. The figure went straight through him, picked up the marker…

…and crossed out, "My Birthday".

He then moved to his closet, donned a new set of black top-wear and exited through the door.

Naruto's eyes widened as he followed the silhouette's form out the door. Staring at the door, Naruto's eyes subsequently narrowed and his raised his hand…and slammed it into the wall. The hand flies through and Naruto draws it back. He growls and then raises his voice into a scream.

"**Are you telling me that this is all happening on his BIRTHDAY!!!!??"**

(----------)

Naruto felt another jolt in his heart. This time, however, it felt as if a large wooden spike was being driven into it…

(----------)

A/N: Meh…this was depressing to write…

And, for the record; I'M SORRY, NARUTO!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I don't own Naruto.

(----------)

**Chapter 6: The Nameless and the Perceptive**

"_If the wind comes from an empty cave, it's not without a reason."_

-Chinese Proverb

(----------)

Naruto silently gulped from within his sleeping bag that night. His watch was over, but he couldn't get any of the recuperative sleep that he needed for the next day. It wasn't the hard, uncomfortable ground which enjoyed digging pebbles into his back. It wasn't the sleeping bag that seemed to make his body too uncomfortably warm.

It was the flash of the final memory behind the door. This one was the longest memory of them all…

…and by far the most painful…

And so, Naruto rolled within his sleeping bag and drifted off into a slumber where the nightmarish images plagued his dreams.

(----------)

The silver light came and went once again. Night had fallen and the streets were lit with a combination of the streetlights, the lanterns outside of the stores, and the light escaping from the windows of the buildings around him. On the brightly lit road, the little silhouette was walking towards a fairly large building; a grocery store. The signs were blotted out with the same shadows that blotted the little boy, but the figure seemed to know where this was and he walked in from between the open automatic doors.

Naruto followed soon after, walking through said doors.

The figure looked left and right, as if looking for a certain object. He figure looked forward and saw a large stand filled with boxes full of rectangular packages. Naruto couldn't determine what they were, but the silhouette seemed happy to find them.

The silhouette walked forward and reached for one. He heard the little figure's footsteps and followed after it. The figure was right in front of the stand and…

Naruto blinked. As he opened his eyes, the scenery around him was completely different.

They were now both in a sparsely lit alleyway, and the figure was now standing in front of a brick wall; its tiny hand reaching to touch the stony surface. Naruto moved closer to the silhouette to see that a look of confusion had covered his face.

Naruto heard footsteps. He turned at the same time the figure did. And they saw a horde of people at the open end of the alleyway. One of them, a short, purple-haired, faceless woman, held up a symbol made from her clasped hands.

A ninja hand-seal…

And the alleyway was soon covered in darkness.

(----------)

Hinata is positive that Naruto has been kidnapped and replaced, but something still seems off.

As she activated her Byakugan to keep watch to the rickshaw's rear that day, she took a look around their surrounding area. She intended to check if a genjutsu has been cast on the area around the rickshaw, but everything seemed normal; no random tendrils of chakra lacing the air, no stray ninja hiding in the canopies of the trees around them, nothing at all.

But, that was the problem. If Naruto had been captured and replaced, there was little doubt in Hinata's mind that there were others following the caravan. And, as a safety precaution, these ninja might have cast a genjutsu in the area to further hide themselves.

But, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the surrounding area. Furthermore, the jônin that led the caravan's front did not show any signs of anything amiss; no narrowed eyes, no hands at the ready, nothing at all.

Hinata then glanced at Naruto to check something. If a person had replaced Naruto, then there should be some traces of a genjutsu being active on his person. Even if it is a minor one like the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), there has to be something hiding his appearance from public view.

But Hinata saw none. There was no chakra lacing the top of the "skin". There was no looming figure shadowing Naruto's body. Once again, there was nothing.

And once again, her team did not seem to be on alert as the imposter in their midst. Kiba's and Akamaru's noses should be able to detect a change in scent if an imposter had come, but they did not seem to do more than walk onward, occasionally sniffing the air for any foreign scent around them; seemingly detecting none as they continued.

Shino had a habit of placing tracer bugs on his comrades during a mission and Hinata was positive that a tracer had been placed on each member of Naruto's team as they left the village. Now, it seemed that he was convinced that all tracers were accounted for.

Internally, Hinata narrowed her eyes further. The only other possibility is a mind control technique; which can be easily disengaged by knocking the controlled one in unconsciousness.

A silent gleam shines sadly within Hinata's lavender eyes. She knows what she must do, but the problem is…how?

And, even more problematic still…does she have the guts?

(----------)

Naruto had no trouble spotting the silhouette in the darkness around him. The silhouette was now a white shadow amongst the black surroundings and it was looking around confusedly.

"_What's going on?" _Naruto heard from within his mind; as if the silhouette's words were bypassing sound and traveling straight to his brain. Naruto looked at the silhouette for a moment before he saw a figure moving in the distance.

Three figures outlined in silvery lines drew closer to the tiny shadow beside him. One stopped moving; the silhouette that held a great resemblance to the woman who activated the genjutsu. The other two figures continued to move forward. And, as the two moved ever closer to the small shadow, they started off with a swift action.

They kicked the shadow in the stomach simultaneously, and Naruto felt it.

Naruto keeled over and groaned painfully. He glanced upward toward the figures in front of the shadow outlined in white with a gleam of hatred in his eyes. He continued to groan as the first figure continued to beat the white shadow with his hands and feet.

"Stop! Stop it! It hurts…" Naruto heard as the white shadow's mouth moved in time with the words. The figure only responded by hitting the white shadow on its head. Naruto, in turn, clutched his head in pain as the feeling resonated through his skull.

"_That hurt more than it should have…" _Naruto thought.

The second figure drew a kunai and stabbed it into the white shadow's back. The purity of white was stained with red as Naruto felt the blow; as if the black kunai was digging into his flesh. Naruto felt the pain and repeated his thought.

"_It's not supposed to hurt this much…"_

The two figures outlined in gray gave out an evil laugh that echoed in the darkness before proceeding to beat the boy with a flurry of blades, fists, and feet.

Naruto felt every blow. And, sometime between registering the pain of the blows and hearing the almost pleading screams of the white shadow, Naruto realized something.

"_This genjutsu…it amplifies pain!"_

(----------)

And thus, the group walked. Having everyone in good condition allowed the pace to be quickened slightly, as to not allow any stray ninja to attack it again. It had been two days and another set of ninja could come at any time. Because of this, everyone was on guard. Naruto could see Kiba and Akamaru; the former holding a slight growl on his face, the latter's fur bristling upwards. He could see Sasuke; a kunai at the ready in his hand. He could hear Shino; a buzzing sound lightly lacing the air around them. He could see Sakura; a set of shuriken drawn in one hand.

And finally, he could see Hinata; a set of narrowed Byakugan eyes blazing and open palms at the ready at her sides; occasionally twitching with the chakra within them.

And, as he clenched his kunai in his left hand (after awkwardly drawing it out of his right-hand pouch); he narrowed his eyes as well.

(----------)

Naruto stood shakily, still feeling the amplified pain of the numerous injuries made by blow and blade. The white shadow silhouette was covered in streams of flowing red as the blood oozed out of the wound and onto the cold dirt ground of the alleyway.

Naruto could still hear the shadow's screams of anguished pain clearly, despite the state of the weakened figure that is speaking.

"_Make it stop…the pain…make it go away…"_

The cloak of black then shattered, revealing the three people once again. The blood-stained shadow retained its white color, now standing out in the night scenery of the village.

The purple-haired woman walked closer to the white shadow; chuckling softly as her hands moved in front of her and clasped them together again before placing two fingers on the shadow's forehead.

And from then, the screams of the shadow only became louder.

(----------)

The group had, once again, stopped to set up camp. Luckily, that day, there had not been any trouble in the form of ninjas; merely bandits that were easily dispatched by the ninjas that the large group was mostly consisted of.

This lack of trouble allowed the group to move faster than expected, moving them ever closer to the Fire Country border. The border was, according to Kakashi, a mere half-day away now.

And so, underneath the golden sky of the sunset, the teams moved to do their jobs; Team 7 to gather firewood, and Team 8 to set up camp. Hinata and the rest of Team 8 quickly and effectively finished their share as the firewood team returned…with Sasuke toting a shell-shocked Sakura. Naruto brought up the rear, carrying a small bundle of branches and twigs.

Kakashi looked sharply at Naruto for an explanation. Naruto, in response, dropped the bundle of sticks near the pile and began to wave his arms as he gave his explanation

"It was an accident! There was this big ass loose branch in one of the trees, okay? One of my clones went up into the trees, stepped onto it, and it broke right under it! Sakura-chan happened to be right under it and…well…" he trailed off while facing his pink-haired teammate. Naruto looked guilty for a moment as he looked at Kakashi. Kakashi, in response, looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"What were your clones doing in the trees in the first place? Freshly fallen branches don't burn as well…" Kakashi asked, confused.

In response, Naruto quickly flushed in embarrassment, turned gruffly and started to walk back into the woods while muttering, "I'm going to get more wood." Kakashi shook his head in exasperation as he saw Naruto move back into the woods.

A small, almost unnoticeable glint appeared in Hinata's eye as she realized something. She knew that, if Naruto was an imposter, this was an excellent opportunity to report to his team. It was possible that the clone deliberately stepped on the loose branch to give the original an excuse to come back with his teammates, and then leave on his own. Hinata was not about to give him such an opportunity.

Hinata started to follow Naruto, giving her sensei the reasoning, "it is better if someone accompanies him," and moving with a calmly quick pace after the orange-clad ninja.

(----------)

There was no silver flash. Naruto only blinked, and now he somewhere completely different. It was a dark night; darker than it was when the first illusion was broken. The full moon shone bright in the sky, when it was a crescent moon only moments before. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he took in his surroundings once more.

It was a forest in front of him; the towering trees dwarfing Naruto's form with their impressive height. And, behind him, it was the gates of Konoha; the wall of stone and metal standing rigidly behind him. And, between these two barriers…

…stood a crowd of silver shadows; all standing uniformly within the space between the village gates and the trees. In front of them all, there was the original white shadow; on his knees, groaning in pain. He seemed to cast a horrified eye forward as the moonlight from above was covered by a large…paw.

The blocked moonlight left but a shadow to be cast over the crowd of silver shadows. Naruto looked up with the original, confused as to the owner of the paw which forcefully eclipsed the moon above. He would soon find out.

The paw crashed down onto the mass of trees in front of him, sending splinters and debris hurtling toward the area. The flying masses flew through Naruto, but the silver shadows were thrown back by the force behind the wooden pieces. And, as a nearby white shadow slammed into the cold ground, impaled by the split log of a fairly large tree, he heard a blood-curdling scream.

Naruto snapped his head around toward the original shadow as he clutched his stomach, in the same place the other shadow was just stabbed through. Blood shot out of its mouth as it cough painfully, gasping for breath.

Naruto looked around almost frantically, observing the damage done to the other shadows. There were a few others that lay beneath the fallen debris, but the worst one off was the impaled one…

So far, at least.

As the paw dug into the ground-down mix of wood and dirt, its owner came into view. It was large, as expected. It was an animal-like creature; once more, as expected.

What was unexpected was the fact that the figure was a crimson-colored fox…with nine tails. Its mouth stretched into a maniacal grin as an echo roared from the skies above.

"**And now, you shall feel the PAIN of the ones you have annihilated!"**

The echo was a shout; sounding as if an immensely large crowd had shouted the statement in unison. The only thing the original shadow showed as a response was a shocked expression; barely visible through his cringes of pain. However, Naruto was positive that, if he could see the shadow's eyes, the fearful shock would be almost palpable.

The fox then rushed forward as a snarling roar filled the air in place of the still echoing shout. A paw crashed down onto a portion of the silver shadows. A tail swept out and sent numerous shadows flying forcefully into the village gates; leaving deep dents within the stone.

The original shadow was now huddled on the ground, wheezing raggedly whilst attempting to screen out the pain of the now deceased shadows around him.

Claws shot out of the fox's front paws, slicing through the crowd; avoiding the original as it cried out in agony. The original shadow was now surrounded by blood; blood that came from the numerous cuts about his body or from within him; the coppery liquid still gushing out with each ragged cough.

The last silver shadow was annihilated shortly after; the nine-tailed fox ripping through the crowd as if its claws were made out of the sharpest steel.

And then, it slowly faced the white shadow. The shadow was gasping for breath; a look of pain and terror upon his features.

The fox raised his claw upwards into the air…

And the silver flash started to appear once more; clouding the edges of Naruto's vision as the scream of the white shadow tore through the battleground.

Then, as the white shadow fell limp; impaled by the claw of the fox, the silhouette began to clarify into a form.

A form with blonde hair atop his head and whiskers across the side of his face…now covered in blood from head to toe.

"_That was…me?" _Naruto thought as the feeling of being thrown consumed him and the flash of light blinded him once more.

(----------)

And Naruto was currently kneeling down near the base of a tree; a small pile of twigs and branches on his arm.

A rustle of the grass behind him alerted him of another presence. He turned his head toward the new arrival, still kneeling, and saw Hinata standing there; her lavender eyes slightly narrowed and shining with an unknown emotion.

"Why, hello Hinata," Naruto said, a soft smile appearing on his face, "Did Kakashi-sensei send you to help-"

"You can cease your act now," Hinata interrupted sternly; her eyes narrowing further.

Naruto's eyebrow rose slightly at the accusation. "Hinata, whatever are you talking about?"

Hinata's eyes shut for a moment as she shook her head in what seemed to be exasperated disappointment. When she opened them once more, she spoke; ignoring Naruto's question entirely. "Your imitation of Uzumaki-san leaves much to be desired."

Naruto chuckled softly. "I thought we agreed that it was 'Naruto-kun' now."

Hinata shrugged softly and nodded; her eyes not leaving Naruto's face for a moment. "I would honor that…if you truly were Uzumaki Naruto," Hinata said as she dropped into an offensive stance, though her hands were positioned to make for swift defense if need be. "I'll only ask once. Who are you?"

Naruto sighed softly. He turned fully toward Hinata; keeping one knee on the ground; his free hand brushed the ground beneath him. He then looked up towards Hinata's face; keeping his facial expression as neutral as possible.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," he said plainly.

In an act of immediate response, Hinata's eyes narrowed once more. "I wish I could believe that."

And then, she shot forward; beginning a thrust with one of her palms; keeping her other arm in front of her body; ready to deflect anything that came in that general direction.

"Then why don't you?" he asked; his eyes slightly narrowing in concentration.

He was only answered with a palm thrust towards his face. Naruto ducked under the palm and rolled to the side; the stack of twigs scattering about his roll path. Hinata followed her palm thrust through; digging her palm into the dirt and seamlessly sweeping her leg back in Naruto's direction.

Naruto, in response, jumped up and back, stopping before nearly slamming into a nearby tree. His posture was straight as a board.

Hinata stood quickly; her body dropping once again into a fighting stance. She cast Naruto an analytical glance and let out a soft sigh.

"Even now, your impression is flawed," Hinata said, her eyes scanning Naruto critically.

Naruto arched an eyebrow. "May I ask how?"

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "No, you may not."

Hinata then charged forward; defensively attacking much like before. She shot her hand forward, and Naruto dodged by gracefully leaning back to narrowly avoid her reach. Another palm thrust was thrown, and Naruto swiftly side-stepped, making the offending hand slam against the tree that was behind him. Using her free hand, she shot another attack in his direction; Naruto reacted with a fairly large back-step.

Hinata ran forward to clear the distance between them, but Naruto quickly had her meet with an interruption…in the form of a small twig.

This twig was in Naruto's right hand moments ago, quickly gathered by Naruto during his initial roll. Now it was in the ground; embedded at the exact point where Hinata was about to make her next step.

To avoid it, she stepped awkwardly to the side, making her stumble slightly, but she quickly regained her balance. She cast a narrowed glare towards the offending branch fragment, and then moved it up towards Naruto's awaiting gaze.

"_His movements, his posture, his analytical skill; all of it is wrong! Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?!" _Hinata thought loudly, as if her mental screams would psychically call forth the answer.

(----------)

Naruto landed roughly onto the watery ground below. A ring of light instantly dragged over to cast the section of the room into view. Naruto stood up harshly, as if shocked and began to look around once more.

It was the same room. The same darkness on the horizon, the same ring of light (though the ring was significantly larger)…

…And the same sense of being completely and utterly confused. And, as expected, it pissed him off to no end.

He wanted answers. He looked at all that just to get his answers, but all that did was leave him more clueless than before. And so, the first thought that came to mind echoed through the room angrily…along with the first name that came into Naruto's mind.

(----------)

"_**DARK!!!!!!**__ What the _**hell**_ is going on?!"_

Naruto only smirked. He's back and screaming already, meaning he's made it back safe and sound. Pissed off beyond all reason, but safe. Now, however, he needed to take care of the person currently fighting him. And, he knew just the way to do it.

It all started with a sharp turn and a brisk walk deeper into the forest.

"Where are you going?" Hinata asked; her voice laced with restrained anger.

Naruto kept the smirk and kept walking. "I'm going to speak with someone." He kept walking and was interrupted by a kunai embedding into a nearby tree; narrowly rushing past his ear. The smirk dropped immediately.

"Do you expect me to allow you to speak to your commanding officer? Until I have answers, the prospect of you leaving my sight will not come to be," Hinata said, brandishing a kunai in her right hand.

The smirk came back; this time with a dark chuckle. "Oh, trust me; the one who I will be speaking to is nowhere close to being my commanding officer."

Hinata's eyes, already narrowed, could not narrow much more without blinding her. So, she settled for simple clutching tighter on the kunai. "So, you're saying that you're the leader of this operation?" she asked; pitching the question more like a statement.

"Operation, huh? I never really thought of it that way…" Naruto muttered, as if thinking aloud.

"So, you're underestimating us?" Hinata said in response—not asked, said.

There was a stagnant pause. A chilling wind coursed through the trees at that exact moment. The smirk dropped off of Naruto's face once again and he turned slowly to face Hinata.

And the first thing she saw was his eyes. They were the same frosty shade that was sent towards the Cloud ninja a couple days ago. The same chill was racing through in the form of the breeze that was currently shooting through the forest, as if Naruto cast it himself. Hinata's eyes widened.

"For one so observant, you seem to be extremely blind to your surroundings," he said, a frosty venom lacing his voice.

Hinata, in response, struggled to keep still. The eyes fixed her in place, but they also made her mind scream out in panicked fear. She was torn between her desire to run away screaming and her need to reveal the truth; a superb demonstration of the fight-or-flight response…and how it can fail. She only watched as Naruto laced his fingers together in front of his chest in three seals.

Rat…Tiger…Ram…

Hinata gulped as she recognized the seals. She recalled the memory of the last time this technique was used and shuddered involuntarily. This last time that this was used, the man was trapped in a death trap of thrusting needles of wind.

At the shudder, Naruto spoke again, a small smirk appearing on his face once more; the expression not affecting the chill of his eyes in the slightest. "I take it that you recognize this technique. I am far more accustomed to this body now, meaning I can access the physical energies of this body more readily, meaning I can use chakra more efficiently."

Hinata somehow snapped out of her fear and snapped another statement-question towards Naruto with a quivering, yet still stern, voice. "So, you are controlling his mind?"

"At the moment, yes," Naruto said, obliging her question without missing a beat. "However, it is not because of an outside source. I can assure you that no one has infiltrated his mind."

The cold pressure seemed to decrease around them. Hinata raised an eyebrow as she asked a true question. Her solid determination still stood true, but curiosity shone within her eyes. "Then, who are-"

"That's not important," Naruto interrupted. He watched as Hinata's hand twitched slightly; the kunai clutched within shaking along with it. "I take it you require more proof, am I correct?" Naruto asked at the sight.

Hinata nodded curtly; her eyes not leaving the spot even for a second.

"Very well, then," Naruto started, dropping his left hand and forming three seals once again. First, he laced his fingers together into the seal of the snake; his hands forming into a small oval. Next, he formed the tiger, and finally the ram. He moved his left hand up once more across his chest…

"Fûjin Yaiba (Wind God Blade)…" Naruto started as his hand began to glow slightly with chakra. Hinata drew back, preparing to make a break for it. "Kire (Cut)," he finished.

And the hand came down; rushing back to its side; sending a single concentrated blade of wind towards one of the smaller trees.

Hinata saw this and shielded her eyes as the sapling fell. And, though it was a sapling, it was still fairly large, sending a resonating "BOOM" through the area as it hit the ground. Dust flew up from the ground, but Naruto was still fairly visible. And, shortly after the tree's fall, the boom's echo was cut by Naruto's voice.

"If I was an enemy ninja skilled enough to be able to control a body with such precision for two days, would you still be alive?"

Hinata's eyes widened at the remark. An immense amount of chakra control is needed to take over the mind, but it takes a significant amount of chakra as well when one attempts to control a mind for an extended amount of time. One with the ability to use techniques while controlling a body must have an incredible amount of chakra control and an equally enormous chakra capacity. If this was an enemy ninja, he or she would have to be much more skilled than your average jônin.

The echo began to fade and Naruto continued.

"Doubtless, the others will approach soon; say that one of my techniques backfired when I was attempting to cut up a fairly large piece of wood," Naruto commanded as the dust began to settle. From Hinata's point of view, Naruto was on the other side of the clearing; divided by the fallen log. He had his back turned, so his eyes were not visible.

"I spoke the truth during our fight; if you are as observant as you claim to be, you will see the truth soon enough," Naruto said, beginning to walk away. "I am leaving for a moment to recollect my thoughts. When I return, the Naruto you know will return with me."

He turned his head towards Hinata, sending a neutral eye towards the pale-eyed girl. He spoke once more as he turned behind a grove of trees, going out of sight.

"Don't follow me."

(----------)

Hinata was left with fewer answers than she expected. Although the knowledge of another presence was acknowledged by "Naruto", she still remained clueless.

The usage of Naruto's techniques—nay, the usage of techniques, period—puzzled her into thinking how a mind possession technique would allow the user with the ability to wield the physical energies of a body that wasn't their own. Add that to the fact that the techniques that were used were techniques indigenous to the village (or indigenous to Naruto himself due to the fact that she had never seen or heard about such techniques prior to this mission) and the entire matter of a mind possession technique is shattered entirely.

If a mind control technique wasn't used, then the next possibility was genjutsu, which was easily ruled out due to her sensei's ability as a genjutsu specialist (_"Kurenai-sensei would have seen through it," _Hinata thought) and the Byakugan she possesses (_"I can see through most genjutsu with it…cant I?"_).

Setting the means of replacing Naruto, the statements that the imposter said were puzzling as well. If Hinata ignored the fact that the ninja could be lying about speaking the truth, it only raised more questions.

And so, as she gathered the small twigs and branches that were scattered throughout the clearing (mostly by Naruto's initial roll); she mulled this entire issue over; only becoming more confused by the second.

(----------)

Naruto found another broken log deeper in the forest. He sat down upon it, setting the collected branches down beside him. At this point, he had gathered a significant amount of wood to bring back to the campsite, but he wasn't heading back just yet; even though nightfall was very soon upon him. He had to deal with a fuming inner voice first.

"_What is it, Light?"_ Naruto thought; using the inner voice's way of naming to form a suitable alias.

"_What do you mean, 'Light'?" _the voice responded, confusion melding in his voice.

Naruto outwardly shrugged. _"You called me 'Dark', so I'll call you 'Light'. An eye for an eye, so to speak," _Naruto thought.

He heard a soft growl in response. _"Fair enough, I guess…" _Light started, pausing for a moment. _"But I still want answers, Dark!" _

Naruto (currently Dark) scoffed outwardly. _"Who doesn't?" _he thought humorously, thinking about the fight that took place not 15 minutes ago. Light didn't seem to get the humor.

"_I'm waiting…" _Light said impatiently. Naruto could almost envision Light tapping his foot; his arms crossed in annoyance as an expression filled with aggravation stretched across his features. Naruto sighed.

"_Well, I'm not really all that surprised…if I wasn't born with this information, I would probably be saying the same thing…" _he thought wearily.

A yell of _"Dark!" _followed soon after. Naruto sighed once again.

Naruto started once again. _"Well then, it's pretty simple-"_

"_Everything's 'simple' for you!!!" _Light interrupted. Dark suppressed a smirk. However, he continued, ignoring Light for a moment.

"_When Naruto "died" inside his own mind, his spirit was shattered. I can't really blame him either…he was only 6 years old. As a result…well…" _Naruto hesitated. There was a short pause in his thoughts before he started up once more. _"Well, I guess I'll have to start with…who I am…"_

Naruto could envision Light, raising an eyebrow in piqued interest at this remark. A half-smirk, half-smile would probably be stretching across his face at this exact moment. It was an expression that said, "Finally, something is going to be explained to me."

"_The abridged version is that…I am…Uzumaki Naruto…" _Naruto thought carefully, waiting for the inevitable-

"_**The "abridged version" doesn't tell me shit!" **_Light yelled indignantly instantly, almost interrupting Naruto.

"_And," _Naruto began again, ignoring the outburst entirely, _"So are you."_

(----------)

A/N: Well, I could go on, but I'll leave it at that; partly because I think it's a good place to stop and partly because I can't think about how to continue this conversation as it is…


End file.
